Quit Acting Your Age if You Want To Have the Life You Want

“Paul, I know people younger than you who are older than you.”

I love it!

I’ve heard that so many times.

From my doctor,?“Your physical health is about 20 years younger than is typical for your age and you’re in better shape than most of my patients who are that age.”

From colleagues and friends.?“You don’t strike me as being the way I would expect someone to be at your age”.?

The takeaway?

Age really is just a number.

Yet, we not only stereotype people based on their age and/or appearance, but too many of us automatically live the stereotype ourselves.

Is that what you want?

No matter your age, is that what you want to determine your life and the way you are and what you do?

Do you want to be a stereotype or the real you? The one you desire.

Understanding this is powerful

What does the number of times the earth has revolved around the sun have to do with who you are, what you do, how you think and how you live?

Yes, there are phases of life (and there’s a new one as you will soon read).

There are the years of physical and mental development, experience and a host of other factors that do progress (or regress) as we move through time.

What I am talking about is how we perceive and assert ourselves in our life.

How we are and want to be, unencumbered by the presumptions, assumptions and stereotypes that come with our chronological age.

I know “younger” people who are developed beyond their years and “older” people who are just as active, vital, experimental and ambitious as one of those “younger people”.

Here’s how I characterize myself:

There’s my chronological age.

Then there’s my bio or health age which is 20+ years younger.

Then there’s my desire to learn, invent, make an impact, enjoy, compete, improve and advance which is the same as it was in my early adulthood.

And it will always be the same until the day I die, even at an advanced age.

The only time I perceive myself as being anywhere near my current age is when I look in the mirror. Otherwise, I don’t feel, think, act, move or live like I would have expected anyone at my age to.

I am just me and I am living as me the way I want me to be.

Right now, I offer you (whether you’re 22 or 72) the chance to really think about it and shift your focus from the age stereotype to who you want to be and how you want to live.

Now and in the future.

Aging doesn’t have to be what you assume

Yes, we are all impacted and influenced by the amount of life we’ve had and all that’s happened to us.

Yes, as we get “older” (whatever age “older” means) we learn more about ourselves and life.

Yes, we advance our skills, talents and gain experience that serves us well.

Yes, there are unique attributes for those who are young adults.

Yes, there are attributes of olderhood that come with time, experience and experiment.

Either way and all the way, ultimately it is you being you and doing what you want to do irrespective of age.

It’s so obvious we miss it.

Then there’s the fact that never in human history has more been available to enable us to be who we want and need to be and pursue the life, the goals and the purpose we desire.

It’s a new gift of life.

Takeaways for “young” and “older”

It’s an entirely new way to view yourself and life as you get older. AKA, olderhood.

If you do away with the presumption of being old, then embrace the extended life and health span available that enables us to be independent, relevant, purposeful, successful and happy to near the century mark, then there is a whole new world of life and possibilities available.

The New Reality

With the old life map, you were a kid, then and adulthood followed by a brief retirement, decline and death.

The new Life Map has added an entirely new phase of life. Olderhood. It’s happening right now; it’s a mega-global trend and it will very soon be the norm.

Now we can look at life this way:

Phase one: Childhood & Youth. Learning and experiencing.

Phase two: Adulthood. It’s like you’re an apprentice in life applying, trying and super learning.

Phase three: Olderhood. The time you go pro with your life. You have reached a point where you know enough about yourself, the world and life to discover, determine and pursue a new life path that is ideal for you.

(What I call a?New Way Forward).

Take decent care of yourself and live with purpose, relevance and fulfillment. You can (barring accidents, congenital issues or the like) be active and relevant into your 90s and beyond.

It’s the new reality. The new gift of life. So, what are you going to do with it?

This changes everything – now & into the future

When I have shared this with people in their 30s, every…single…time they are stunned.

“Wow. I never thought of it that way. This changes everything. Even for me now.”

Or

“That’s interesting. I’ll think about that.”?Followed months later by,?“I haven’t stopped thinking about it. This changes everything. Even for me now.”

I get similar reactions from people who are older and those who are already living it.

The stereotype of aging on a broad scale is no longer valid.?

This is literally the opportunity of a lifetime.

As Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Max Planck says,?“When we change the way we look at things the things we look at change.”

When we change the way we look at age by NOT looking at age, everything changes.

The way we perceive ourselves and others.

Opportunities and possibilities flood through the demolished wall of assumption.

We are freed and enabled to Go Pro with our life.

“What happens when we turn pro is, we finally listen to that still, small voice inside our heads. At last, we find the courage to identify the secret dream or love or bliss that we have known all along was our passion, our calling, our destiny.”?―?Steven Pressfield,?Turning Pro

It’s both simple and wonderful

I am just being who I truly am and who I want to be and I love it.

It makes me feel good and it enables me.

Yes, I see this older guy in the mirror and that’s just the way it is.

Yes, I am not as fast or quick as I used to be, but I am still really fast and quick.

Yes, I get sore and a few physical things like my right knee have caught up with me. But I am not really much sorer than I have ever been in my physically active life.

But my passions, desires and core characteristics are the same as they have always been. Those don’t change.

I’m better at being me and doing what I do, and I intend to keep improving, experimenting, aspiring, succeeding and living.

Therefore, when someone says,?“Paul, I know people who are younger than you who are older than you”,?I appreciate it.

At the same time, I really don’t care.

Because I’m just being who I am and living my life as a pro.

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