I wonder if your (Ryan) parents were older when they had you? I’m 28, and my dad is now 80, my mom being 71. I’ve always felt more comfortable around older people too, and it worries me whenever I use the word “bro” un-ironically.

Yet, I also feel the same “craving for experience” that characterized the lives of Jack Kerouac, et al. I want to go eveywhere, read everything, meet everyone, see what everyone else is up to all over the world. I want to live immediately.

Balance, though! The “middle way”. I work EXTREMELY hard, and I “ship”. The things I tell people I’m working on DO get produced…

But I don’t want to work my life away, and I don’t want to look back and wish I’d said “Yes” more often. My life is writing, reading, working, drinking, fighting, guns, cocaine, escorts, volunteer work, happiness, grief, friendship, traveling, human rights advocacy, reckless driving, parties, ayahuasca, meditation, love, family, nature, whiskey, laughter, poetry…and so much more! I want it all!

Looking back, I see that I’ve used self-referential words a total of 20 times in the first 4 paragraphs, so I’m definitely a millenial too!

Great piece, thank you for writing it.