It’s been a long time coming, sang various musical philosophers, and for this Philosopher-in-Residence, the magic age of 42 looms rather bright on the horizon. I’ve not yet read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in my 41.99 years to date, however I like the concept that 42 is apparently the “answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”. Even better, the author Douglas Adams weaves in the fact that nobody really knows what the question is.

I won’t posit on whether this is an allegory on life itself without reading the tome, but I have asked for a copy for said 42nd birthday (it had to be done) so will report back in the New Year!

In the meantime, here are a few reflections from my first 42 years.

FOUR

What is it all for? This is the universal question that we Cartesian beings always seem to come back to. When we are feeling low, this is a depths of despair exclamation. Right now, I want to be excited about my birthday and the advent of a new year. At times of openness and growth through change, the question what is it all for takes on a glittering, galvanising mystique. Your brain canters with ideas for new projects in the home or at work. You sketch out all the things you want to do, experience and achieve and whether these are solitary and soulful or shared with special people.

I’m aiming for slower and stronger for my “what for for 2024”.

TWO

There’s an irresistible temptation to include some kind of Cornish pun here on “where’s that to?” or similar. To be Cornish has been really important to me over the aforementioned 41.99 years to date. Growing up with unparalleled natural beauty and earth’s bounty combined with aching poverty and deprivation, not to mention a now-recognised ethnic identity, shapes someone in a way that I don’t think can be derived from anywhere else. Look, I just reinvented lived experience!

WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

We’re all just really looking for the question that helps us plan what we do (had to get a planning reference in there somewhere!)

For many, that’s what makes us happy? For others, how can we be better?

Could it be that if we stopped questioning in our brains and started listening to our bodies more, that might be the 42^nd most likely answer of them all?

In the next edition and the first blog of 2024,  I’ll be musing On Winter, as we head into the chilly stretch to Spring. Wrap up warm with a cuppa and check out my irreverent thoughts in the next from the On Seasons series.

Please get in touch with any particular aspects of this subject you’d like me to write about.

In the meantime,

Happy Planning

PS If you want some other free tips for your business life, check out the Working Well blog – out fortnightly on Wednesdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Productivity Expert, Pen Le Kelly. Browse the latest edition here:

https://www.makemeaplan.com/news/working-well-working-green/