Age Isn’t Just a Number, and My Body Knows it.
But I Still Don’t Feel It.
I’m reading the title again and it doesn’t even make sense.
If my body knows it’s old, then how do I not feel old?
Let’s just say I’ve physically accumulated a few aches and pains over the years, but I feel like those years have gone by fast and I thought it would take longer to get here.
I don’t remember growing up never mind growing old.
I don’t even feel like an adult. I’m a baby boomer with three grandchildren and just can’t wrap my head around that fact.
I had my first dose of reality at the movie theater earlier this year. My sister was buying the tickets and she asked for three seniors to which I interjected, “I don’t think I qualify.”
To me, anyone under 65 is not a senior.
She looked at the girl behind the counter and with a smirk said, “What’s the age for a senior ticket?”
“Sixty,” she replied.
“See! You’ve been eligible for a year now. Aren’t you glad I asked?” She was just so proud of herself.
So, yes I qualified. Trust me, I wouldn’t have.
Someone please just get me a wheelchair.
Physically I don’t feel it because I’m very well preserved. I’ve taken good care of myself. I’ve never missed a checkup, dental cleaning, or having the numbers run on my aging body parts.
I’m not on medication and have a healthy heart and lungs, thanks to my very wise decision to quite smoking when I was still a fledgling 22 year old.
I have an old ski injury, a wrenched knee that’s developed osteoarthritis and bone spurs; rotator cuff injuries; carpal tunnel syndrome; and irritable bowel syndrome.
And they really don’t get in the way too much.
I have all these little things under control thanks to my CBD oil, hemp really, which I take once a day.
So yes, despite the fact everything still works, my body knows it’s been around awhile.
But here’s where the not mentally feeling old comes in. My mind and my spirit feel like they’re still arriving, still discovering, and still capable of learning so much more.
I keep my mind active.
I read and write, a lot, and continue to learn and stretch it.
First I signed-up for Medium Master and then the same little whipper-snapper Millenial, Tom Kuegler, offered the course: LinkedIn Mastery. I’ve had an account for years, but now I’m learning how to harness its potential.
Both courses have provided new communities of people with new ideas. We’re all different ages on different paths, yet we’re sharing our goals and life experiences.
And we all want the same thing: to succeed.
It’s a group of strangers forming a family of sorts and you begin to realize that we’re all more alike than different.
When you learn and share, you see an entire new vista open up in front of you. At a certain point you understand that you’ll never live long enough to learn all that’s out there.
And when your mind moves and your body moves, you feel good, and hopeful like there’s more adventure ahead, and you’re glad to still be alive in the 21st century, even if you’ve got more years behind than ahead.
I’m often surprised to be the age I am and I wish I’d had more fun and taken more chances getting here. I wish I’d not let my world get so small.
Live as much as you can every day.
Don’t worry about the aches and pains. Everyone has some, even the young. And they’re not always just physical. Stretch, walk, do a downward facing dog. They’ll get you moving.
Don’t waste time on the what-ifs. You’re exactly where you should be at all times. The universe has done that for us and it never lets us down.
Your age doesn’t matter and just because you know it, doesn’t mean you need to feel it.
Get out there, move, and see what happens.
Good luck!
