Ripples N Reflections

“Age is just a number,” says the well-worn adage. But is it a number you care about, or one you tend (or try) to ignore?

(This prompt was inspired by a suggestion from ripplesnreflectiontimes) Thats’s me, BTW 

Age being just a number is an oft used adage when a person successfully attempts or at least dares to attempt something not quite expected at that age, from learning a new skill to falling in love, because in the general scheme of things, all societies lay down a scheme of a “what-to-do-at-what-age” list.  That being true, I give the adage another spin. Age has as much to do with one’s mindset as with the time, place and people you are with as well as  with the things you do at any point in life. It is these things that keeps the mind at the age you feel and not at the age it actually is.

What is older in years after all? I recently heard a friend saying that old age is your own age plus 10 years. It’s true – at 20 years, 30 looked  ancient, when I crossed 30, 40 was middle age,  turning  40 made me feel  50 was a sunset year and now at 50, 60 appears  to be the twilight years.

At all these milestones, I notice that the years just fall away when there is a blast from the past or you do what a “younger you”  had done. The brain is caught in a time frame I guess in such scenarios and it immediately harks back to the time you were last together. I remember meeting a college mate after 20 years and all I could think of was the day we first saw each other and the last time we had met. We just took off from where we had left. It was as if the intervening years had never happened. That is why there is so much immediate bonhomie and rekindling of friendships at school and college reunions.

Learning new things has always helped me connect across the generation gap. I saw the necessity of doing this especially with my kids. It was imperative that I converse them in their own language, be it a new kind of music or new technology. Having done that at every step as far as I could, I would like to think that while age may be a race one can never win, aging is something that need not happen in a negative way… we may “mature” but need not “age”.

Revisit the places you lived in, meet the best friends you have long forgotten, walk along the paths you walked hand in hand with the love of your life, relive those wondrous years and I promise you the years  will fall away.  Similarly as long as your thoughts are young, age is just a number indeed.

So live life, cherish old friends but make new ones, hone your old skills but learn something new, old may be gold, but today’s new is tomorrow’s old /gold too. There are places waiting to be discovered, talent waiting to be tapped, days waiting to be lived and friends waiting to be loved. So, leave the numbers behind. Look ahead, the best is yet to be! Keep adding life to your years and your age will remain just a number – a friend, not an enemy.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/age-old-questions/