I’ve never worried about getting older. Worrying about getting older is a like stressing over whether the sun will come up, or if the tide will come in. Some things are out of your power and inevitable. So why worry?
Worrying about whether you’re where you want to be in life, or concern about what you’re achieving in your job or thinking about how to make relationships more successful – this I understand. The predilection with numbers I just don’t get.
So I just turned 40, and sure it’s a moment to pause for thought. Like most people I have moments where I wish I had the confidence, knowledge and wisdom that I now hold when I was twenty. Life would have been very different if I was born with these skills and abilities rather than having to acquire them, but short of a ‘Freaky Friday’ occurrence – it’s just day dreaming.
What I don’t understand are people in their twenties who are slowly taking numbers off their age, so that when they reach 30 they’ll ‘officially’ be 25. I don’t understand people who won’t chat on social media to people who are over 27, or 32 or 39 – how do they work out these numbers. Do people lose their ability to chat as they get older?
Surely we have a lot to gain by engaging with people older or younger than us. Older friends have introduced me to, and encouraged me to appreciate some of the best music I know. Listening to younger friend’s tales of dating disasters makes me feel so relieved to have the relationship I have. I’m glad that at 40 years of age I have as many friends who are twenty years older than me, the same age as me, and many who are younger than I am.
So take time to imagine where your life will be twenty years from now, and take time to share your thought with people who are both younger and older than you are, the experience will make you rich, whatever your age is.
Graeme Watson
