So this is a tad embarrassing, but I was getting ready to graduate from high school when Taylor Swift was a newborn. The fact that I was alive for each and every Swift era is not the embarrassing part. What is embarrassing is that I had no idea that there was even such a thing as a Swiftie Era until this evening.
When I got home, my wife told me to put on a lavender shirt and put a flower in my lapel and was told that I am representing the Lover Era. We were heading to a Birthday Era Swiftie Party. A friend of hers at work was having a birthday and karaoke party in the Eras theme. I was clearly out of my element, and hear I thought Jethro Tull fans were crazy.
There was a touching moment, however. The birthday girl sang the song “Our Song” alongside her brother. They had memorized driving back and forth to college. This song captured a time in their lives when they clearly bonded in that special way siblings do. Shout out to Luke, great singing man!
I wondered if my sister and I had such a song. Probably something really 70s wacky, like Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John. Anyway, this moment caused me to reflect on my own Eras. I am grateful that my ups and downs and relationships are not cataloged and publicized! So I started thinking through my life and the music interests of the time. There is the Tull Era, the Dylan Era, The Get the Led Out Era, and The Boogie Down Productions Era (don’t ask). The Grateful Dead Era, and so forth. I’m not even sure what I would call this current era.
This got me thinking about what a rational and healthy way of thinking it is to encapsulate a part of your life into an era and be willing to move on and try something new. So I started going through my major changes in life. There are definitely distinct periods. The Debut Era started in 2006. Since that time, I have had the Entrepreneur era, College Professor era, Engineer era, Sales Leader era, Ultrarunner era, and now the AI Startup era.
So, what era are you in now? How are you going to make this era a double platinum album? I mean why not? There is nothing preventing this time in your life from becoming that epic chapter that will serve as that culminating, defining time period in your life. Now, this is where I end the blog and leave you with a powerful Taylor Swift quote that ties this up succinctly. However, this is all I could find, so I will leave you with, “Just be yourself. There is no one better.”
