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The Ageing process - and how to beat it
Can you beat the aging process? A mixed answer I am afraid, sort of Yes and No!
Well, you can’t stop getting older, but you don’t have to mature!
Looking at the local scene, there are many retired British ex-pats, and with the
cost of living and the dreadful climate in the UK (summer fell on a Tuesday last
year), do you blame them for seeking a warmer retreat for their dotage? But is
everyone over the age of 65 really dottled? Simple answer, No! But those of you
over 65 will have found that the younger generation tries to push you into that
retired person’s home category. Here we go - God’s waiting room and who’s next
to die!
A few years ago, my eldest son (then 29 years old and a strapping 6’6") and I
went to the UK to visit my dear old Mum and my sister. While there we decided
that father and son might like to go and explore the night life in the fairly
large city close to my sister’s rural retreat. Upon asking where we should go in
town for some drinks and dancing, I was told by my sister, “Oh there’s nothing
for you there!” “What do you mean?” I replied. “You’re too old!” was the answer.
“But what about him?” I said, pointing to 6’6" of youth and enthusiasm. “Oh he’s
too old too,” was the response!
What a sad indictment of today’s world! At 29 years of age, this young fellow
was considered to be too old to go out and enjoy himself? Of course, for me at
age 60+, it was sinful to even contemplate it!
There is an unfortunate tendency in the western world to write everyone off
after the age of 25. It seems you don’t have to wait till you are 65 to be
redundant. But why should this be? The only real difference between “old” people
and “young” people is that the older group have much greater experience. There
is precious little of substance worth doing that older people cannot do. And I
am not talking here about people over the magic (and arbitrary) 65 year retiring
age. I am talking about anyone still wandering around the planet unaided, no
matter how old they are. For example, if you are 80 years old and want to do a
parachute jump, can anyone tell me why not?
The reason I say this, is that by the time a person is 80 years old, they have a
fair idea of what they can or cannot do. After all, they’ve had that same body
for eight decades, they must know it pretty well by now. The problems you come
up against when deciding to do something is not usually a “physical” restraint,
but a mental one. You get conditioned by the western society that you are ‘over
the hill’ and you must sit in the corner and quietly rot away.
Well, that’s exactly what will happen to you if you do sit quietly in the
corner! Like any living creature, you need stimulation (and I’m not talking
about the ‘stimulation for hire’ bars), and mental stimulation will get you
going physically as well. Forget about your chronological age and think about
things that you want to do - and then work out how you are going to do these
things.
Obviously, if you are 80 years of age and you tell me that you want to run a
mile in four minutes, this is not only impossible, but it is silly! However, if
you tell me you want to take up running and want to train for the marathon, I
will say, “Go ahead!” I might suggest starting off with shorter distances and
work on from there, but the concept is the same - if you want to do something -
go ahead and do it.
Do not accept “age” as a barrier to anything. Work out how to do it and get on
with it. Live life to the fullest, every day, for as many days as you have got
left! And there is nobody on this earth can tell you how long that will be, not
even Gypsy Petulengro.
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