Birthdays are so great because they’re about generosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The act of giving, helping, is so generative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s what we can all do for ourselves and each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But accepting is really hard, too! Gosh! Let it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes we don’t let the gifts in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approaching forty has felt impossibly light and heavy at the same time for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s so cool to be typing this into something we made together<\/strong>. I want you to really<\/em> think about that. Ponder the enormity of all that came before that allowed you to be here today, and I want you to get a little bit excited, in that sacred hidden part of your heart that yearns for more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s keep doing that. And let’s make it better and share it so everyone can enjoy it. We make the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve been enjoying so much all the posts coming in for the birthday gift<\/a>. I’m reading them as fast as I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specifically, my failure mode is I share too much. I’m too generous. I like to err on the side of open. Here’s some amazing code I wrote that you have a legal license to use however you like<\/em>. If you ask those closest to me how I mess up, it’s that I over-extend myself and try to do too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve never shared this publicly, but when the Bay Lights wasn’t going to make it the first time, I mortgaged my apartment and used that money to get it over the line. My personal finances were messy for years after that. I think a lot about being impeccable with my word<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I want people to give the smallest $10 donation to the Bay Lights<\/a> and encourage others to do the same so that we can all share in feeling that together, we can build things. And every time you see the light or bridge or think of San Francisco, you’ll think of that sacred hidden part of your heart that yearns for more, wants to leave everything better than you found it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add some light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let the gift in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the part where the sounds come in and you hear it’s the remix<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I find myself returning, again and again, to the Automattic Creed<\/a>, especially the first line:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will never stop learning. I won\u2019t just work on things that are assigned to me. I know there\u2019s no such thing as a status quo. I will build our business sustainably through passionate and loyal customers. I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I\u2019ll remember the days before I knew everything. I am more motivated by impact than money, and I know that Open Source is one of the most powerful ideas of our generation. I will communicate as much as possible, because it\u2019s the oxygen of a distributed company. I am in a marathon, not a sprint, and no matter how far away the goal is, the only way to get there is by putting one foot in front of another every day. Given time, there is no problem that\u2019s insurmountable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I’m having the most amazing day reading everything that people are sharing. I want to re-share the quote I shared on Tim’s podcast<\/a> from Will Durant: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Health lies in action, and so it graces youth. To be busy is the secret of grace, and half the secret of content. Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n All birthday posts: 19<\/a>, 20<\/a>, 21<\/a>, 22<\/a>, 23<\/a>, 24<\/a>, 25<\/a>, 26<\/a>, 27<\/a>, 28<\/a>, 29<\/a>, 30<\/a>, 31<\/a>, 32<\/a>, 33<\/a>, 34<\/a>, 35<\/a>, 36<\/a>, 37<\/a>, 38<\/a>, 39<\/a>, 40<\/a>, 41<\/a>, 42<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Birthdays are so great because they’re about generosity. The act of giving, helping, is so generative. It’s what we can all do for ourselves and each other. But accepting is really hard, too! Gosh! Let it in. Sometimes we don’t let the gifts in. Approaching forty has felt impossibly light and heavy at the same … Continue reading Forty!<\/span> \n
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