Maria Popova, Professional Show Off,* Turns 30

I've been reading the Brainpickings blog for several years, now, and rarely find a post on it that doesn't interest me on some personal or intellectual level. I have it in my RSS feed, I follow it on Twitter (which I never look at) and I have "liked" it on Facebook.

This is where I found out that the creator of Brainpickings, Maria Popova, has turned 30 years old today.

That seems so young, now, but I'm not so ancient that I don't vividly remember a time when I thought someone turning 30 was probably just a few steps from the grave.

That's how your mind works in the middle of your life. These days, I work with people who are in their 70s, 80s and 90s; they view the point at which I am in life in the same spirit that I view Popova: with calculated wistfulness and distanced affection based solely on how far she still is from shuffling off this mortal coil.

Popova chose "the 7 most important things [she] learned in the past 7 years of reading, writing, and living" on the occasion of her 30th birthday. Below are my 7 favorite posts of past years.

The Daily Routines of Famous Writers

Bohemians: A Graphic History of Creative Mavericks

Against Positive Thinking: Uncertainty as the Secret of Happiness

The Breathtaking Love Letters of Violet Trefusis and Vita Sackville-West

Albert Camus on Happiness and Love, Illustrated by Wendy MacNaughton

The Artists’ & Writers’ Cookbook: A Rare 1961 Treasure Trove of Unusual Recipes and Creative Wit

Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives

* - I mean "show off" in the nicest way possible.