I have a question.
At what age do they come collect your neck?
Because somewhere between my thirties and now, mine quietly packed its bags and got gone!
I was looking through some recent photos of myself the other day, and I noticed something was… off.
I used to have a neck.
Now it’s just beard… then shoulders.
I’m not saying I’m upset about it. I’m just saying I would’ve appreciated a warning.
Nobody tells you about this part of getting older.
They warn you about your knees.
They warn you that you’ll make noises every time you stand up.
They warn you that one day you’ll throw your back out reaching for the TV remote.
But nobody sits you down and says, “Hey Jeff… one day your neck is gone just jet on you.”
I’ve accepted a lot of things about getting older.
I can’t eat like I used to.
I don’t bounce back after a late night like back in the day.
My body now sends invoices for decisions my younger self made without permission.
And honestly?
I’m okay with that.
Because getting older has also changed the way I think about work.
When I was younger, I wore “busy” like it was a badge of honor.
Answer every email immediately.
Take every phone call.
Say yes to every project.
Solve every problem yourself.
If someone needed me, I wanted to be the one who fixed it.
Looking back, I wasn’t building a business.
I was building a job that happened to have my name on the door.
There’s a difference.
These days, I’d rather build systems.
I want my website answering the questions I answer every day.
I want appointments booking while I’m asleep.
I want new clients finding what they need without waiting for me to reply to an email.
I don’t want to spend my days putting out fires that could’ve been prevented with better infrastructure.
Maybe that’s what getting older really gives you.
Perspective.
You stop chasing the appearance of productivity and start chasing freedom instead.
You realize the goal was never to stay busy.
The goal was to build something that doesn’t fall apart the minute you decide to spend time with your family, take a weekend off, or simply step away from your computer.
Funny enough, I think that’s why I stopped calling myself a web designer.
I don’t just build websites anymore.
I build systems that keep working when you aren’t.
Because unlike my neck…
Those shouldn’t disappear.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to continue studying recent photos, hoping one of them proves my neck has simply been hiding behind my beard this whole time.
