Retaining Our Youth - At Any Age

What is age? It’s a number that gets arbitrarily attached to us each year on our birthday regardless of how young we feel. It’s like an albatross around our necks. We can feel forty but be weighted down by the number fifty or more that has been forced on us. So what can we do about it?

We can ignore that number and concentrate on how we feel; and we can work towards looking as good as we feel. There are many ways we can do this. We can avoid gaining extra body weight, exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, not smoke, drink moderately, have good posture, look after our skin and always use sunscreen, get sufficient sleep, keep our hair in a fashionable style, always be well groomed, and smile often.

Other and just as important ways are:

to speak in the language of the day. (This does not mean teenage lingo). My mother still talks about streetcars instead of our skytrain transit system, trousers instead of slacks, and the gramophone as if these were still things we use;

to think in a youthful way. If we feel forty instead of the fifty or more that we may be, we should try to cultivate friends in that age group. I have noticed that those who move into seniors’ townhouse complexes, even when they are the youngest ones there, start to sound and behave like their older neighbors. If we think like a young person, we’ll feel like a young person;

to stay current in what is happening around us and be able to converse on meaningful topics.
be motivated in getting the most out of life that you can. Enjoy life and living;

try new experiences. Make a list of all the things you haven’t done and would like to do and start doing them. Don’t wait for life to happen to you, make life happen for you.

I also have my own little favorite - don’t tell your age - don’t lie, just don’t tell. People have a preconceived notion of what ‘certain ages’ are like. There should be no presumption of what you may be like based on your age, only you as you are.

Albert Einstein – People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.

Perhaps this is one of the secrets of youth – the ability to be constantly enthusiastic about life and living.

Ashley Montagu – I want to die young at a ripe old age.

Who could ask for anything more than that?

Satchel Paige – How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?

Probably as old as you feel and that’s what it’s all about. How nice it would be to go through life with no number attached to us and be an age only as it related to how young we feel.