Meanderings and Musings: Reflections at age 32

Donald A. Promnitz, The Hanford Sentinel, Calif.
·2 min read

Jun. 19—I celebrated my birthday this week and while 32 isn't exactly a landmark year, it feels like a milestone after weathering 2020 and coming out the other side.

As it does every year, it's given me pause for thought. I'm nowhere near where I thought I'd be 20 years ago. For example, I don't have any kids — in fact I'm not even married. I didn't grow up to be a fireman, a fighter pilot or any of the cool things I thought I'd be as a kid.

"That's it? That's all we were able to do?" I imagine 12-year-old me would say. "Where's our house? Our family? We're 32 and live alone in a tiny apartment!"

However, I'm pretty sure 25-year-old me would be pretty impressed. After bouncing around from working in my father's X-ray company to being a registered EMT, a Fire Academy washout and a taxi driver, he'd be happy to know that I finally have a stable career, one in which I've won considerable praise and have even been awarded for public service.

"Awards and an apartment? Nice," me at 25 would say. "That's better than nothing."

And so my birthday has been a time for me not to lament on what never could've been, or even what might've been if I'd utilized whatever potential I had, but to be thankful for what I have accomplished. It's a day for me to pause and reflect on what I did right in my first 31 years and how I can improve tomorrow.

For me, that means taking better care of myself — eat better, cook more and cook more healthily. I've pretty much cut Coke and Diet Coke from my diet, but I still need to remember to drink less coffee and more water. And while I haven't written the bestseller I envisioned writing as a boy, I have returned to recreational writing. The road to self-improvement is best traveled one step at a time and setting small goals for yourself isn't an admission of weakness, but an acceptance of your realistic limitations.

For those reading this that find themselves in a similar place in life, I encourage you to take stock. What are you doing right in your life? What can you improve on? When you find the answer, tackle it one day at a time.

And if you're discouraged, try to remember: Your younger self may not like the results of who you are now, but there's no reason your future self can't.

Donald A. Promnitz is a staff writer for The Sentinel. He can be reached at dpromnitz@hanfordsentinel.com.