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Jordan Year: A Retrospective

Posted on August 19th, 2015

“Turning 23 is essentially meaningless, though.  What a boring birthday,” I lamented.  I spent my 23rd birthday at the office in the final weeks of training at my new job, and was not in a celebratory mood because coding is hard.  One guy quickly corrected me though– “23 isn’t meaningless.  It’s your Jordan year.”
 

Turns out the theory goes something like this: if Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time, 23 should be the greatest year of your life.  You should be excellent, and do superstar things.  Suddenly the pressure was on!  I thought I was having a chill year, kind of coasting until I hit 25, and suddenly I was expected to set records and excel!
 
I choose to believe the best is yet to come, but it’s true that some incredible things happened when I was 23.  Coincidentally, I moved into my New York apartment on my 23rd birthday, which kicked off my first year of independence (financial and otherwise).  As unglamorous as it is, a fair amount of the year was spent trying to be the Michael Jordan of being a mini grown up– but I think I succeeded.
 


 
The overall cycle of my Jordan year proceeded as follows:

 

  • August-November: Running around like a chicken with my head cut off.  Not quite sure which way is up.  Adjusting to spending 28 minutes waiting in line at the grocery store checkout
  • December-February: Killing the game, but lonely and also really sick of wearing snow boots.  Saw all Best Picture nominees.  By myself.
  • February-May: I’m just here to have fun.  Ginning & winning.
  • May-August: Jordan status achieved.  Dreams coming true.

 


 
An oversimplification, of course, but definitely a complex year.  Let’s focus on the good stuff, though.
 

All of this adulting gave me so much insight into what was important to me, and as my faith in my competence grew, so too did my confidence in my ability to make things happen.  I was so nervous when I first started the job hunt in Seattle, and pretty much in disbelief when I signed my apartment lease with Ian before I had even secured employment.  But like Mike, I managed to pull out some clutch plays, and everything fell into place.
 


 
So naturally, I jumped for joy.

 
I’m not sure I’m ready to call this the best year of my life, but hopefully I did ol’ MJ proud.  At the very least, I used my Jordan year to work on being the world’s best version of me.  Just play.  Have fun.  Enjoy the game.
 


 
And now I just need a mascot for 24.  Kobe?
 


 

Cheers, y’all.

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