By now, I’m sure I’ve learned some things. This is not my first rodeo. I’ve got some idea about how things are going to go. I’ve figured out there are things I want to avoid.

Some things are not my cup of tea. I don’t have to like everything.

Other things may seem amazing, but they are just too hard. I’d love it, I admire it, but no way can I do that. And I’m so very sure I know what I know.

Except I might just step out and find that I didn’t know everything after all. Some things which I thought were beyond my abilities can move within my reach.

Hard stuff can become easy. I’ve seen the world shift into an easier shape. I’ve had my blog for 20 years now. When I first put it up on my own website it was terrifyingly complicated. I had to learn deep geekery moves to put the blog software in place on my own domain. But the world moved under me. Deeper geeks than I moved the foundations to make it easier for everyone. Now it’s even automatic. Some of it.

There are other times when I am exactly where I left off. Yesterday I found myself walking up the stairs in a parking garage. I couldn’t remember if the car was parked at the top or maybe one deck below.

And I flashed back to five years ago, walking up the stairs at a job site. It was the first day working with this crew and I was nervous. The elevators didn’t run. and I. I remember walking up those stairs five years ago and feeling every step, panting my way to the top. Trying to breathe quietly so people didn’t notice and think poorly of me.

But yesterday I realized I had walked the same three flights and it was not difficult. What’s happened in those five years? The stairs are the same, but my body is different. I got stronger. I did the work so that it got easy.

So maybe this rodeo I think I know is not the same show. I’m certainly not. I think it is worth taking a look around again and seeing what might be easier. And maybe if I take another sip, I might like a cup of tea after all.