Time

Birthdays. They come and go and come again. They seem to show up faster as the years go by. My 60th arrived the other day. By this age, birthdays seem to be just another number however, with a passing decade, perhaps a bit more reflection is in order.

Rather than dwelling on the years gone by, I thought I’d talk a bit about today. Today, internally. You see, it still feels like I’m in my early 30s. I see folks in their 40s and think of them as old. Older than me at least. Heck, I’m in better shape today then I was ten or even twenty years ago. Maybe I’ve slowed down a bit but it doesn’t really feel like it. Maybe I am a bit more careful then when I was younger but that’s about it.

Mentally, it may take a little longer to learn some things but the thirst to learn is stronger now then when I was younger. I do find I sometimes have to concentrate a bit more to stay on task but I sometimes think that is more the Internet than age as everything comes at you in small, quick bites these days.

I mention all this to say that I still feel as viable as I did twenty or even thirty years ago. The problem comes with society. Does society think I am still as viable or do the younger generations feel I’m on my way out? It is something I find I think about more as each year goes by. I see it, the getting passed by thing, in others and it makes me work that much harder on not becoming an old codger (use your own term for over the hill here).

It can be scary. I know I still have so much more to contribute. I want that chance. I need that chance! It is a hard thing to be treated as someone that isn’t at the top of their game anymore even though I still fell I am.

What do you think? What keeps you up at night around getting older? Do others value your experience, your life journey?

But, and this may be getting a little “out there” and a little of subject – kinda, but what if time can be nonlinear? What got me thinking about this was a movie I just watched again, “Arrival”. No real spoilers here but it discusses this exact point.

What I’m suggesting is, could our minds work on a different time than our bodies? Think about how some days can last forever or how long it takes an hour to go by or how fast a day goes by. Then think about how fast years go by and how slow a winter month can take to end. Why do weekends zoom by and a day at work takes forever? Or, that work day can be over in the blink of an eye. Nonlinear time.

Maybe it is all perspective. Maybe not?

Maybe this is our soul? If we have a soul? Maybe that is why our minds treat time in a nonlinear fashion but our bodies, well they are pretty linear.

Whatever the answer is, all I can say is my mind still feels about half the age of my body. The saying goes, time waits for no one. Maybe it is time that is waiting for us?

In any event, probably the best answer is to continue to value others and see them as they see themselves no matter how the outer shell has aged compared to their inner self, their soul. It is that inner self that truly makes the difference.