… it is my birthday, I just turned ageless! Biological or chronological, there is a number but mentally, psychologically, there is no number, but why? How?
I remember growing up, when I want to try certain new things, I am told, that I am too young, an answer I always find disappointing, especially if I feel I am ready and could do whatever it was, but still I took courage, that it was just a matter of time, then I will reach the required age. This went on and I kept getting ‘you are too young’ for this or that, so I held back my hand. Then one day, I tried to do the same thing again and surprise, surprise, I got a different answer, actually a totally opposite answer, this time around, “I was too old!” Hold on! How did that happen? When did I move from being too young to too old? When was I the ‘right age’ to do what I wanted to do? How come nobody told me that I had reach the right age? And now there is nothing to look forward to, I can not reduce my chronological age once ‘too old’. I had hope when I was too young, I could grow older, but nobody grows younger. Hope was snatched from me, with the “too old” verdict!
Age is a ploy, a deterrent to prevent us from doing what we ought or need to do. It is like time watching, weather gazing or train spotting. Ecclesiastes tells us that he who watches the wind will not plant and he who looks at the clouds will not reap. He who stands there watching and noting the trains, never takes a ride. He who forever checks the weather forecast never gets out of the house. A moderate consciousness of age to enable wise precaution is in order, however a paralysing attitude that prevents the weather gazer from leaving the house can also prevent the age gazer from taking any action.
The story is told, true or not, I am unable to verify, but the moral of the story is solid. That when putting together the female band ‘Spice Girls’ one of the girls was asked, “how old are you?” Her answer was a question, packed full of wisdom “what age do you need me to be?” Now, you can’t beat that! It is not about chronological age, that is a hindrance, it is about getting the job done. The age that gets the job done is the age we need to be. We need to loosen the rigid band that holds us bound to a certain age and in turn resticts our flexibility of what we can do or not do. Most of the time, we can still do what needs to be done, but we believe at a certain age we can’t or ought not. What different ‘being’ we would be, if we don’t continually restrict ourselves by our chronological age? Flexing is possible, we are encourage to grow up, be mature or to be like children. We can swing either way, within reason, we can be young at heart or we can have a head that is beyond our age.
‘Age is just a number’ they say and maybe the statement holds a lot of truth. We are as old or as young as we feel and possibly think. We have all heard about mid life crisises, men, women reaching a certain age, suddenly realising they haven’t reached the pinnacle they thought they would have reached by whatever age, and then sink into depression, anxiety or some other unpalatable state. The thought in my mind is that if this age bar, milestone does not exist, people might experience some discomfort or slight frustration of taking longer than expected to reach certain goals, however the whole mid life crisises might be non existent. There might not just be any crisises, just blips along the way.
I am of the opinion that if we stop doing age the way we generally do it, there will be a lot more productivity and more will get accomplished and people might just live a more fulfilling life until it is time to say Adieu. Some people reach a certain age and they literally start ‘packing up’ whilst there is still a lot of life left in the old dog. Our society is riddled with ageism, ignorantly and unpleasantly dismissing people once they reach certain age of being unsuitable for this or that. I remember I was trying to change career, and after my studies I sent out my CV, got a call from a recruitment agent and whilst going through my CV he went, ” oh! and you are the big ‘3’ ‘O'” the way he said it, you would have thought I committed the unthinkable crime turning 30. It was not a football career or something where physical strength was required, so in retrospect, I can’t understand his point, but this is some of the stupidity and craziness of society we always have to contend with.
I guess, each man or woman must make a deliberate choice not to be discounted. Life is for living and whilst the young shall grow and there is life in the old dog we must keep going and giving. Society must not dictate when we start or stop giving as long as there is substance in the barrel. And if we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel, so be it. No point in kicking the bucket until it is empty.
It is not about how old we are, it is about how old we need to be to get the job done or more importantly, it is about becoming ageless and getting on with it.
Remove the shackles of age! Be ageless!
Beautiful Ivory 