I normally let my birthday pass quietly, taking in the joy of the day while watching my kids get excited about the countdown to Christmas.

However, this year, I wanted to celebrate a bit more because 40 is the proverbial “mid-life crisis” age and I have nothing to be in crisis about. In all honesty, it’s never been better.

However, being the overly reflective person I am (to a fault it seems), I thought to do something different. Normally when a blogger celebrates a birthday, they post lists of things they’ve learned. I want to make a list of advice people gave to me that has rung true.

While most advice is garbage and the best bits are often ignored, here were the gems:

The days are long, but the years are short.

• Said to me when I was about to have my first kid. Applies to parenting and life.

Money isn’t everything, but it helps.

• I’ve never been motivated by money, but learning how to make, keep and grow it has alleviated countless stresses.

If you think you saw a mouse, you did. And if there’s one, there’s more.

• Yes. Just, yes.

Your health is everything.

• You can only get away with ignoring it for so long before your body fights back. On that note, nobody will care or be more honest about it than you.

Have hobbies.

• Advice given to me when I was on the assembly line after watching retired people come back every morning and sit on the line because they didn’t know what else to do.

Related…

Your hobbies can just be hobbies.

• Not everything needs, or should, be monetized. We all need an outlet.

Leave your work at work

• This one took me a long time to figure out, but mentally checking out when the day is done makes for a much greater happiness quota. You no longer live for the weekends or vacations.

Don’t eat the cherries off the cake

• There are some really stupid blunders you can make in a relationship that you won’t be able to live down, ever. Just ask me about eating my wife’s leftover chicken wings.

There are no shortcuts to writing

• You sit down and you write. A lot. That’s it.

Backup your digital stuff in multiple locations

• You only have to lose your files once to learn this lesson the hard way.

Say ‘no’

• The more comfortable you get saying this word to people, the less stress you invite into your life.

If you loan someone $20 and you never see them again because they are avoiding paying you back, that makes it worth $20.

• There is an underlying bit of advice with this one that some people are worth just letting go because they aren’t worth your time or effort anymore.

No one is as impressed with your possessions as you are.

• Having nice things isn’t the issue. It’s basing your entire self-worth on showing them off to others.

Life is not a straight line

• Getting to where I am today required an incredible amount of detours, most of which were completely unexpected. If you stay open to what life has to offer, it’ll show you some incredible things.

The first two thousand weeks of my life have been a ride and yet, despite the youthful energy and many late night festivities of those early years, I feel like the fun is just starting.

I’ll let you know in another ten years.