I turn 49 this week and I'm more intellectually curious than ever before. I think there's a few things at work:

1. I'm financially in a good place.

2. I work hard but don't have an all-consuming job. I'm also much more focused on the work around me then looking only upwards towards the next promotion.

3. I've 98% given up the idea of going on to a PhD, which means learning is really fun and only on topics that I find super-interesting.

4. There are a lot of things that I never knew, and feel I should have learned much younger, but now I don't feel any shame in revisiting "first principles"

5. I have a balanced set of interests that are both technical and non-technical, as well as intellectual and physical.

6. I think I'm starting to understand that IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!