“The field of asking is fundamentally improvisational. It thrives not in the creation of rules and etiquette but in the smashing of that etiquette.
Which is to say: there are no rules.
Or, rather, there are plenty of rules, but they ask, on bended knees, to be broken.”

—Amanda Palmer

I'm turning 40 tomorrow. Happy birthday to me.

I love the lists people do when they turn some age, like 27 or 50, and write up the 27 or 50 things they've learned.

I thought I might write a list of 40 things I’ve learned but then I got to #9 and a) couldn’t think of any more and also b) was bored by my own list. I guess I haven’t learned that much, and I have a short attention span.

So, instead, I'd like a birthday present from you: tell me something you've learned in your years on this earth. Share one of the lessons you’ve learned. Give me your best piece of advice. Send me the quote you live by. Or the song you listen to that gets you through. Tell me something you know is true, important or unimportant. Share a reminder or rule or way of seeing that helps you. I'd love to hear.

Something I have learned is that asking for what you want or need is a superpower. And people are so, so generous. Shockingly so.

Hit reply and be generous, because I know you know stuff.

🍱 If you could only eat one kind of cheese for the rest of your life, what kind would it be? (I don’t have an answer for this question, by the way, I couldn’t possibly choose a single type of cheese forever, what a heinous idea.) Anyway, come on up to the house.