GROWING OLD SUCKS… But it Doesn’t Have to!

            Give me a break! What a rotten thing to say to someone. Two friends haven’t seen each other in years and they meet on the street. One says to the other, “My dear. You’re growing old gracefully.” What a slap in the face!

              In today’s parlance “gracefully” is a way of saying, “you look old or you look your age or even “boy, you look awful” in a nice way.

             And it’s even worse to live your life growing old gracefully. This means you know you’re getting older, but you’re not going to do anything about it. You don’t take care of yourself. You don’t care. You just trudge along.

             The bottom line is there is no such thing as growing old gracefully. It’s not true. It doesn’t happen. It can’t and it won’t. If you grow old gracefully, you’re giving up and giving in. You’re dead!

             Life offers two major choices. The first choice is you can sit back and let nature take its course. That’s not my idea of graceful aging. The second tactic is you can fight back. Now I intend to fight back with everything I’ve got to be the best possible old guy one day. I want to be the best old guy around when I’m around 120 or so.

             Notice I say “old guy” one day. I don’t feel old. I don’t think I look old. (You can tell me if you think I look old by responding to this posting). And I certainly don’t think “old.” I don’t care what the AARP or my kids say. I’m not old. I’m not! I’m not! I’m not! I’m just growing up.

             Let me make this perfectly clear: Today aging is a war of the magnitude that the world has never seen. I personally will use every weapon in my arsenal to make growing old easy. And there are hundreds of age-defying weapons available to beat “Mr. Age.”

            Okay, the tools I’m mostly talking about will give my skin a youthful appearance, allow me to eat what I want while losing weight, and even color my hair with a natural appearance. They make me look better and I feel better about myself.

             But age buster weaponry is not only cosmetic. Some are allowing boomers (and those older) to bloom as they age. Knee and hip replacement surgery allows weekend athletes more time on the golf course or tennis court. Or just to walk unassisted. 

             The advancements in mental health are also part of the artillery. I don’t want to wake up one morning and not know who I am, what day it is or who is sleeping next to me. Using modern medical technology I want to remember if I’m a bad boy or not.

             Once we make a decision on the major options, we have two less important choices to consider.

             The first is to decide to grow older. I know I said I’m fighting aging, but growing older is a hard fact. Every year we get older. Yes, I’m going to push back the clock as much as I can.

             To me growing older is the same as “growing up.” We should have the same thoughts and ideas as we did when we were younger. Don’t miss understand – I want to look my best, feel my best, and do my best. But most importantly, I want to be productive. I’m not going to give in and become an old couch potato!  

             Consider the second choice. Not living while you’re alive.

             You’ve seen this kind of person. You probably know someone who is like this. They plod by. They are neither happy nor sad, they just are. And to me that’s a living death! If there’s no joy in life, you’re not living. I want no part of this.

             Remember in your 20s thinking you could do anything you wanted? Remember feeling on top of the world? That feeling is what life is all about. We’ve been trained to think the world is over just because we have a few extra miles driven than other people.          

            Knowing that you’re worth something, that you can do whatever you set your mind to do, that’s what life is all about. We need to feel that way today, just like we use to. Because without that feeling, what have we got? Nothing.

            Just because you’re growing older, doesn’t mean you need to Curb Your Enthusiasm for life. You can decide to do something you’ve always wanted to do, go back to school, skydive, snorkel, or whatever you think about doing. The key is know that you are alive!

            To be fair, there are other considerations in growing old. Family is number one. We make sacrifices to support our family. We watch our children go through the things we did and feel their pain. But growing old is not about our kids, our friends or our spouses. It’s about us.