Five Important Things I've Learned In 50 Years

It's my birthday - what better time than to reflect on the most important things in life?

Hello there. This is a special Substack column for me. It’s my 50th birthday today, and I wanted to write something different for my most generous subscribers. This is a personal thing, and I hope you enjoy it. It’s Five Important Things I’ve Learned In 50 Years. In no particular order:

5. Despite Your Best Intentions, Not Everybody Is Going To Like You, And That’s OK. From a pretty young age, I’ve come to know that you’re inevitably going to run into people who don't think much of you, and the worst thing you can do is to live down to their expectations. I don’t know whether it’s a more primal thing involving pheromones, a jealousy deal over the platform I have, or that I’m confident in my political and life views (which, admittedly, are a teensy bit strident), but it’s always a bit of a shock when I come across someone who is openly nasty with me.