This morning I was staring at my personal Gmail account. You know, in case someone quizzed me about it later. Now, because of the way Gmail is configured, I could see the first 10 words or so of every conversation I had with another user. And as my eyes scanned down the list, I noticed one word, again and again, in my replies.

“OK, awesome, I’m on it.”

“I had such an awesome time, thanks.”

“Are you kidding? That is AWESOME!”

I felt the cringe of embarrassment that occurs anytime you see yourself as you truly are — particularly if what you truly are is a 37-year-old who uses the word “awesome” A LOT.

In my defense, many of these things WERE REALLY AWESOME. What other word could describe this jubilation, this feeling of invigoration, this feeling of HELL YES? I suppose “cool,” or “fun,” but they lack a bit of the razzle-dazzle. Some people I know use the word “rad.” I am not one of those people. Things could be “fabulous” or “spectacular,” I suppose. I’ve been known to use the word “rockin,’” but it definitely needs context, a bit of a red-carpet roll-out. You can’t pull out “rockin’” for every occasion. It’s like a once-a-month deal. But you can be generous with “awesome.” It’s a versatile little word. Come on: It’s awesome.

I can remember a moment, about eight years ago, when I panicked that I was using the word “awesome” too much. I interrupted a colleague during his work day. “Do people still use that word?” I thought maybe it dated me horrendously as someone who still wore Doc Martens and flannel (this was back when I actually did still wear Doc Martens and flannel).

My colleague waved away my anxiety. “Awesome is timeless,” he said.

Phew. “OK, awesome.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”