It recently occurred to me that I am now almost exactly the same age as my father was when I was born.  If I were in a similar situation, would I be prepared?  Would I be ready to finish growing up?

Coincidentally, the Atlantic just published a fascinating look at the Grant study, which followed a group of then-Harvard sophomores through their lives (and in some cases, to their deaths).   Some turned out to be men of great note (one was JFK), but others seemed to amount to little and were pained with regret in their later years.

I found a statement by the study’s current administrator in the video that accompanies the article to be particularly relevant.  Near the end, he described the ten years between the ages of 25 and 35 as one of few limitations yet great personal uncertainty.  Would they—the participants of that age worried—ever amount to “a hill of beans”?  It is reassuring, then, that most of the participants had indeed made something of themselves by the end of their fifth decade.

Seems almost like an echo of adolescence, and that turned out O.K., too.