Down the rabbit hole I go again…

“It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then,” – Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

The lines and wrinkles are winning the battle. After 60 years, they have established a beachhead that is impervious to modern science’s efforts to flatten them like a pancake.

Countless elixirs promising to be the Fountain of Youth flood the market and incessantly pop up in between the games of solitaire I play on my tablet.

All because I went down a rabbit hole and, like Alice, found myself on a one-way trip out of reality. Unlike poor Alice, whose escape from Wonderland occurred only after various whimsical and nonsensical adventures, I extracted myself by closing the browser page.

That didn’t stop the denizens of the digital rabbit hole from following me, trying to lure me back with a potion that will turn back time.

My vanity be damned!

Why obsess over a fact of life? Aging is a natural process. I shouldn’t strive to return to my youthful geeky adolescent self.

Returning to the past is not a destination, both physically and mentally. As one’s body ages, so, too, does their mind. The difference is the physical manifestations lead to assumptions that people are becoming old and infirm. What people don’t realize is the mind becomes even more incredible as we age. It matures with the accumulated knowledge we have accrued throughout our lives.

That’s the paradox of aging. Our bodies tend to degrade at a faster rate, even as our minds covet learning more and more each day. At least I know this to be true for myself.

As I neared my 60s, Rebecca and I went through the perfunctory but necessary arrangements to ensure we were ready for retirement. At some point – and I hope not for a few years – I will retire from my current job. But not now.

The last year demonstrated that I am not ready for retirement. As I segued into a new assignment, I realized there was so much I wanted to learn. From artificial intelligence to coaching and counseling colleagues about working in a multigenerational workforce, I have found a renewed passion for life and learning.

Instead of searching for elusive elixirs of youth, my trips down the rabbit hole will be in search of something far more gratifying.

I’ll be searching for knowledge.