Saturn is coming back for me.

I’m the sum of consecutive integers.

For the next three and a half months I’ll be two years older than my sister.

It’s my birthday today.

Since my father turned 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+5 I’ve been asking the birthday boys and girls to share the most valuable piece of knowledge they’ve gained so far in their life. The idea is that every year their insights will change. I’ll never forget Dad’s first answer: “I would have taken better care of my teeth,” he said. Because of that, he gets partial credit for the fact that I’ve managed to keep two baby teeth up to this point. And, for the record, Dad has very nice looking teeth.

So, you know what’s coming now. Here are my words of wisdom for the world:

“The answer is inside you.”

And here’s the obligatory explanation:

People will try to give you advice because they care about you, because they want you to make a good decision, because they are invested in that which you are deciding upon, because they want to lighten your load or speed you up, because it’s what we all are inclined to do when we notice that a person is stuck. But! If you are in the habit of receiving advice and then spending a lot of energy trying to align yourself with it, you aren’t giving your own smart self a chance to have a say. And! It’s pretty likely that you won’t be “bought in” to your own decision because you weren’t the original author, as it were. So before you act, slow way down and look inside yourself. Believe that no matter how confused, naive, taken aback or freaked out you feel, there is an answer in there. Sure, listen to what others have to say, as their thoughts might help guide your search. Try hard! Commit to seek and work until you reach bedrock or fall over from exhaustion. If you don’t give up, you will find the best answer of all inside your naturally creative, resourceful and whole self.

Here’s to another trip around the sun.