Focused on imagination as I settle into middle age

On this Aug. 24, 2026, I focus on what distractions mean to living my best life as I now sit smack dab in the middle of my 40s?

What's been reality for some time already is no longer avoidable...

I'm middle-aged!

I can also still hike like I recently did to Maroon Bells' Crater Lake.

I still feel young, still have a full head of hair, can still track down a flyball, can still jump into a circle pit, can still dance the night away, and can still stay up wayyyyy past my bedtime. But, I'm no longer a young man. 

I have gray hair (as proved by a recent AI ask my wife made to make an avatar of my photo that said as much), I have kids, a mortgage, a minivan, a balky shoulder, shirts older than the average college student, have to water down sweet things, and have developed a distaste for much of today's music. 

That's right: "Get off my lawn!" Just kidding, I'm not Clint Eastwood old, yet.

At least those 25-year-old threads are back in fashion again.

Focusing on the future, while appreciating the present of middle age

As I write this post, blessed to have my phone buzzing time and again with friends and family sending birthday wishes, I face a bigger ponderance: How can I focus the year ahead on what matters most? 

We often talk about New Year's resolutions, focus on birthday wishes, and even set goals for academic years or fiscal years. But what about a birth year?

My wish for the (Michael Jordan’s return) birthday year? Focus. I want to focus on the ideas—big and small—that fuel my curiosity.

Is there anyone better to sum it up than iconic American humorist, author, and philosopher Mark Twain?

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." — Mark Twain

That’s it... focusing not just on what’s in front of me right now—despite how grateful I am for my wife, children, family, friends, Philly sports teams, coaching, an epic blood orange, Johnnie Walker Blue, and a litany of other joys of my life. But, instead, setting aside distractions to focus on my dreams and what can (and will) be next.

I'm giving myself the grace and self-love to focus a bit more on me this year before I embrace my Dallas Green birthday a year from now.

What will come into focus? I hope you keep following me on this ride.