Age-It Truly Is Just A Number

Age-It Truly Is Just A Number! My theory on age is that since we have a life expectancy of at least ten more years than when we did when we were born, we can employ this: If you are 50, well, then you are really only 40, and if you are 40, 30, and if you are 30, you are only 20. It’s all in your head, so employ my theory and feel ten years younger. It’s the truth, you really do have ten more years, so start enjoying your windfall now, today! Why wait until the ten years between 80 and 90? Get your extra ten years in now!

Luck Comes With Time, Not Age!

Why age is truly just a number-Baby boomers are the luckiest generation ever. Up until the early 1970s, turning 30 was a drastic sign of aging for a woman, and God forbid if you hadn’t snagged a husband yet. You were too old to have children. I escaped the dreaded aging game, which is demonstrated by the old saying, “A beautiful woman dies twice, once when she loses her looks and again when they bury her.”

Perhaps I never thought of myself as the least bit attractive; I knew “my good looks” were not going to open doors for me. Good looks do open doors, and they get you invited in, but I don’t think they get you invited back for the important events. So I figured I had to develop my brains. I had the good fortune of teachers, counselors, and tests telling me I had brains. (An interesting caveat to all this is if you ask my high school chums, they would not confirm I was that unattractive, and if you ask my family, they would not confirm anyone told me I was that smart—but don’t ever underestimate the power of perception. My perception was that I was not attractive, and so maybe I had to cling to the fact I was smart, because I had to have something going for me.)

We are the luckiest generation of women in the history of the world. Look at how drastically better our lives are than our mothers. This is not to say that a lot of our mothers weren’t really happy with their lives, but you had better have wanted children and a husband, and you better have landed yourself a good one.

Facts Don’t Lie!

Don’t believe me that age truly is just a number Here are some cold facts: About 80% of Americans live normal active lives until the end of their lives. Disease, incontinence, cataracts, depression, and senility are not a normal part of aging among most Americans.

If, for one minute, you think you are too old to accomplish your dreams, consider the following from The Speaker’s Sourcebook by Glenn Van Ekeren:

George Burns did not receive his first Oscar until he was 80.
Golda Meir did not become prime minister of Israel until she was 71.
Michelangelo was 71 when he painted the Sistine Chapel.
Grandma Moses did not start painting until she was 80; she completed over 1500 paintings and over 300 of those were done after she was 100.
At 58, Doc Counsilman became the oldest person to swim the English Channel. [Glenn Van Ekeren, The Speaker’s Sourcebook, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1998.]

You’re Only As Old As You Feel!

Aging really is all in your perception. Think you’re old and you are. Think you’re young and you are. I have seen so many people hit 40 and you can almost see them age and collapse before your very eyes in the length of time it takes them to tell you the sad story of how awful it is. And the entire time I’m thinking, “Hmm, two months ago you weren’t that much younger, but you sure were a lot more interesting, a lot more fun. I don’t get it; you’re only two months older than you were last time I saw you, and your life didn’t look so bleak then.”

Whining about your age should be one of the mortal sins; forbidding it should be the eleventh commandment. Whining about your age is spitting in the Creator’s face; it’s saying, “Hey, I’m sad you let me continue to live.” I mean, if death is sad, then shouldn’t life be good? Isn’t that why we celebrate birthdays? Hey, one more year. Thank you, God. I am going to get with my close friends and celebrate my good fortune of continued life.

Complaining about age doesn’t make sense. It is not even a problem, therefore it cannot have a solution. Now, I am not saying people can’t whine about not feeling good, health problems, and life’s frustrations. But to complain only because you haven’t died yet is ridiculous!

Jack London had it right!

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not spend my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

The trick, I think, is to live fully in beauty, health, and happiness your entire life, from beginning to end, thanking your Maker for each and every moment you are given life on earth!