Reflections on Turning 40

Today is my 40th birthday. Originally my wife and I planned a big hoopla to coincide with both her and my birthday (we were born about 5 weeks apart). We had an elaborate 80’s theme based on a numerical equation (40x2) and had a musician and venue booked. But alas and as with most of 2020, COVID-19 had other plans and we canceled the event.

I feel good to be 40. Things are never perfect, but I’m full of gratitude for the people that surround me and for the luck I’ve received. A wise man once said, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” Well, I’ve worked hard and prepared throughout my 20’s and 30’s but I’ve also received tremendous opportunity along the way. So yeah, I’m definitely lucky.

I’ve been anticipating this day for some time now and it’s anti-climatic now that it’s here. But more than ever, I feel like I can be unapologetically me. I often live at the intersection of two juxtaposing characteristics. Privileged in some ways but not in others. American but also Asian. Business but also nonprofit/public sector. I guess it’s the yin and yang of my life but I’ve come to embrace this counter-balancing narrative, which in the martial art form Judo is a way to use your opponent’s force against them (I look fondly back on my semester of Judo during college). Perhaps this is always why I’ve latched on to becoming a “contrarian” in my thinking and approach to many…