You can choose your age

What you believe about your age is what you will present to the world. I went to primary school with some elderly people! Seriously, they were like old men and women in the bodies of six year olds.

Now, I’m of the age where people are often retired. I recently attended a dinner with about sixty people of around the same age, ‘baby boomers’ one and all.

What an eye-opener that was for me!

These people were, almost without exception, retired. Their conversation was about pensions, caravan holidays and grandchildren. There’s nothing wrong with any of those things and I’m always happy to talk about my grandson BUT when it was suggested to me that my husband and I could retire and receive a variety of war service pensions, I felt a physical blow to my solar plexus.

The thought of not being able to do my Life Coaching and NLP made me feel sick and very distressed. You see, I’ve found the work that fulfils me and makes me feel I’m making a valuable contribution to humanity. It motivates me and keeps my mindset young. I had nothing in common with all those people who are the same age as me, I simply couldn’t relate to the lives they live as something
that I would want for myself. By the same token, they all looked at me as though I was from another planet.

Whilst respecting their model of the world it was very clear that retirement is not on the cards for me for a very long time. The only thing separating me from them is my mindset. My parents had a friend years ago, who was healthy and fit. Then, he turned sixty and he literally said, “Right, I’m an old man now” and proceeded to deteriorate at an amazing rate. He spent the next five or so years going from perfectly healthy to doddery on his feet to wheelchair bound to a nursing home to his grave. His mind told him he was old, so he was.

The mind is incredibly powerful and just as it can set up a negative mindset around age, it can also be tuned to a positive mindset, where we retain our youthful vigour and energy. It can keep us interested in life and all it has to offer.

‘You are only as old as you feel’ is an old and very wise saying. It’s not necessary to become a stereotypical ‘old person’ as you age. You don’t have to dress in beige like your grandmother did and you don’t have to lose your identity and become an “old person”. Age disgracefully, I say!!!

As we age chronologically, it actually brings a lot of freedom. For example, women who are no longer menstruating are able to plan outings and holidays without considering what female hygiene supplies they will need to bring, they can happy swim and don’t need pain relief.

We’re no longer bound by the demands of young children, being a taxi driver or a party planner for a group of five year old fairies, unless we choose to do this for grandchildren. We’re free to go for coffee when and where we want, we can eat in restaurants without playgrounds and we can go out and not smell of baby vomit… All good!!!

If you feel thirty-five and your birth date says otherwise, then you’re doing a great job of being unconfined by the limitations of your birth certificate. Believe you’re healthy and vibrant with something of value to offer the world,  and it will be so.

You can be any age you choose – so how old is your mind?