I’d like to thank everyone who, virtually and physically, helped me celebrate my birthday. I’d also like to take this opportunity to answer a reoccurring question, “How does it feel to be 70?” My standard answer, albeit with a little bit of humor thrown in, is that I feel as if I just turned 40. Upon careful reflection, that isn’t entirely true. If I had to be honest, I would have to admit that it feels more like I just turned 30.

At 30, I was living in Los Angeles and had a private trainer. A little-known fact about Los Angeles is that everyone has a private trainer. Anyway, she whipped me into shape. She didn’t actually use whips (you have to pay extra for that), but I ended up in pretty good physical condition. By 40, I was living in Las Vegas. I was freelancing and doing a local radio interview show. Having left my celebrity feature writing career behind, I was testing the waters to determine what I wanted to do next in my career.

There was no real direction to my career. I went to work for a public relations firm as a publicist, researcher, and computer/Internet guru. It was interesting, sometimes fun, but none of it really excited me. Decades have gone by and now I’m heading into my 70s. Physically, I feel as if I’m in my 30s and I’m still testing my career waters as I did in my 40s, but there’s been a seismic shift in my goals. Experience and technology have opened up strange new worlds for me to conquer. I’m writing books, blogs, essays, and articles. Alone or in collaboration, I’ve created three podcasts with more on the way. I’m streaming on nine different social media platforms, some simultaneously. The exciting part is when I click the final submit button because everything goes global in an instant.

All my words are fueled by my years of evolution between then and now. Many people of my age group are attempting to slow down their lives. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. It’s just not that great of an option for me. They wake up in the morning and ask, “What am I going to do today?” Alexa wakes me up every morning with the words “Good morning, Mark. You are The Writer. Change the world with your words.” Although I programmed it to say that, the words seem to have more meaning when repeated back by another voice. By the way, it doesn’t hurt that the voice has a British accent. Everything sounds more intelligent with a British accent.

When I wake up in the morning, I ask myself, “What am I going to do first, today?” I’ll answer that question with the words of Captain Christopher Pike of the Starship Enterprise (he was before Kirk). Prior to engaging the warp engines that will propel the starship faster than the speed of light, he’s asked for authorization to do so. After a momentary pause, he replies in the same way that I reply mentally whenever someone asks me how it feels to be 70. Again, I’d like to thank everyone for their good wishes. In the words of Captain Pike, it’s time for me to “Hit it!”