My father used to say that "life cycles in sevens." I've taken that to mean that each seven years is like a mini lifetime, a frame. It's been a good measure for me thus far, and as with any lens we look through, it has helped me make sense of the broad rhythms of my life. My fifth seven, years 29 to 35, were where I started to put some things together in terms of identity and my role on the planet. I know who I am and what I'm supposed to do. I'm pretty happy being me, though what I need to do to be "better than I was yesterday" are even more apparent. A more healthy balance between self love and self deprecation. More empathy without condescension. A better balance of pedagogy and practice. Relying less on social constructs of gender, race, class, sexual orientation and more on a situated understanding of what's going on.
Today, as I enter into my "6th seven," I reflect and realize that I have a pretty great life. I come from a loving supportive family. I'm in the process of trying to help recreate that for my own family. I have every reason to wake up in the morning with the attitude conveyed by my grandmother that "everyday is a good day; if you don't think so just try missing one." I'm surrounded by the love of my wife and son, and have another child on the way. I'm learning something new everyday, and putting in work to become a concerned intellectual who does work "on the ground" where people live (Eli Goldblatt says "from gown to town"). I'm healthy. I'm blessed. I'm embracing the next seven with more awareness than ever of how amazing this life is.
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