Age(ing)

On the 14th of April 2023 my friend Chevaan D Daniel shared the above picture on his FB under the caption 'Life is a Leaf'. This provoked my thoughts to write this.

When I googled ' The art of aging' I got 29.9 Mn results. This shows as to how much discussion goes into old age. Firstly, age to me is not based on what is in the birth certificate, but it is how I approach life. Recently I met a former (not an old) colleague at a funeral, and asked him 'how are you? He said 'I'm enjoying my retirement'. I then asked him what he was doing, he said 'Nothing'. Hmmm! I was wondering as to how one could enjoy doing nothing.

Long years when I was following the law degree at the open university, there was a student, a foreigner, full of grey hair who came to class with a walking stick. I was curious to see to have enrolled for the external law degree. I walked up to him and asked him. 'Sir, I am curious as to how old you are and what made you enroll for this program?' He smiled and said 'Son, I am 89 and you never know when this knowledge will come handy'. I then realized age is nothing but your attitude towards your own life.

Here's something for you to ponder upon. A year is determined by how long the earth takes to go round the sun. Now what has that got to do with my mind and body? If the earth took 500 days to go around the sun how old would you be? See how the mind programs to decaying your body and preparing it for death. I am not advocating immortality. All what I am asking you is if you stop living long before death comes to you.

Look at Japan, they work till they die. We stop living before we die. Just because you have retired does not mean it's the end of life. On an average you would live at least 15 years after retirement. If you are doing nothing after retirement, are you not wasting life? Why do you have to retire? It is how we frame our mind towards lethargy and our own uselessness. That is why the body begins to take a rest.

It's crazy how we ask a three-year-old 'How OLD are you?'. Ridiculous, isn't it? When someone ask me as to how old I am I ask in return 'what is old for you?'. I tell them not to determine my time on earth based on how long the earth takes to go around the sun.

As I said I am not advocating immortality. All I am asking is not to die (as in stop living) before death hits you. Every moment you are awake is a gift, make it useful for yourself. I want to die empty by emptying my potential to the benefit of myself and others.

Live every moment of your life. Make it matter.