The opposite of age.

There was a lot packed into that last newsletter. Sorry (not sorry) if it was a little too dense.

There was a statement in there that hypothesized that we were collectively dealing with societal middle age. This is something that Chip Conley and the Modern Elder Academy have called “Middlescence” — a life stage that compares to the other transitional phase of adolescence.

There have been a number of attempts over the years to rename or reposition different life stages, most of which have been unsuccessful: Re-wirement, Third Age, Next Life, Epilogue Economy, Longevity Economy. I know because I was a big part of AARP 's “Life Reimagined” nearly a decade ago.

Something tells me we won’t find a word that works for everyone because we'll all be doing something different. Perhaps a better way to think about it is to re-think the number. Age is a measure of life experienced to date. I’m 58 because I’ve lived for 58 years, but this number has no bearing on the years ahead of me. I’m exactly halfway.

My math on this:

I left education at 21 years old. I’ve been a free adult for 37 amazing years. According to this life expectancy calculator , I have another 37 years to go (my life expectancy is about 90).

Most of the time when we think about aging, we think of it like a disease — something that’s a problem when it really isn't. In fact, we’ve done a fantastic job of not dying from it. We’ve added nearly 30 years to life expectancy since 1900 (when average lifespan was 47 years; today that number is 77). When my father was my age, he only had 13 years left to live, but if I play my cards right, there’s a very good chance I’ll have 3x the time ahead of me that he had. Hopefully, we all will.

So, why can’t our age be more representative of future potential? Why can’t I have a number for what is ahead of me, not what’s behind? I’ve got 37 years, and there’s so much that I plan to do with that. And, more importantly, if I want to do something really amazing, I’m going to have to find some people to work with who’ve got 50, 60, 70+ years ahead of them too. Age is not a disease. Age is growth. I am not a single age, nor am I ageless. I am all ages. I am my childhood and education and I still enjoy that childish part of me. I am my best and worst performances over the last 37 years and I will keep building on these achievements. I am all of my loves and passions because few of them have diminished, in fact they’ve grown stronger. My age feels like it is within me, not the number that others give me. Is it crazy to say my age has yet to reveal itself?