50
My fiftieth year has dawned upon me and one thing I can tell you, without any doubt, that it felt the same when I was 49, or for that matter when I was 40, everything before that seems to be too far away to contemplate and requires way to much energy. Besides I am not one to hanker over the past, because, the fact of the matter is firstly, no, I would not know any better no matter how much I think I would, and secondly, I would make exactly the same decisions and choices and would be right where I am, right here, where I need to be. I guess that is the one thing that happens to you when you age you become more forgiving and accepting of the decisions and choices you make.
Make no mistake, things do change around you, suddenly you are propelled into the category of "old" and automatically those much younger than you give you the title "Uncle" or "Oom", even though there is no way under the sun you could have legitimately inherited the title. I must admit that the first time someone referred to me as "Uncle", it hit me like a ton of bricks, "I must be old", but I soon realised that "Old" is a state of mind and I remember a song sung by the late great "Connie Francis" (yes you can google her), "Young at heart" and the line which goes, "...don't you know that its worth every treasure on earth if your young at heart...".
And yes, the music does sound louder than Led Zeppelin played full throttle (yes you can google them too), somehow it does even though it may not seem so. My taste in music has changed, and while I am a child of the 70's and 80's and I do enjoy music from this era, I tend towards jazz and blues and actually enjoy Amy Winehouse. I have also become a great fan of old Indian music, being of Indian origin, seems to play a role in this something about trying to reach back to my roots, but I can assure you, this is as far as the roots thing goes.
There are other things that change, material things become less and less important and those intangibles such as happiness, love, peace and spirituality become more important. I believe that you should define who you are through action deeds and thought, never let your possessions, your wealth or your title define who you are cause when these they fade into nonexistence you will loose yourself.
The most liberating lesson of all that I have learned, whatever I am doing, right now is what I am meant to be doing, nothing more nothing less.
So all in all there is one thing that is definite, if I am faced with the same choices now as I was before, I would take a different cause, not because I would necessarily know better, but because I realise that it is far more important to experience life from every perspective and hopefully have a more fulfilling meaningful experience.
So I hope this inspires you to live your life and grow old gracefully but most of all be "young at heart"... ;-)
Make no mistake, things do change around you, suddenly you are propelled into the category of "old" and automatically those much younger than you give you the title "Uncle" or "Oom", even though there is no way under the sun you could have legitimately inherited the title. I must admit that the first time someone referred to me as "Uncle", it hit me like a ton of bricks, "I must be old", but I soon realised that "Old" is a state of mind and I remember a song sung by the late great "Connie Francis" (yes you can google her), "Young at heart" and the line which goes, "...don't you know that its worth every treasure on earth if your young at heart...".
And yes, the music does sound louder than Led Zeppelin played full throttle (yes you can google them too), somehow it does even though it may not seem so. My taste in music has changed, and while I am a child of the 70's and 80's and I do enjoy music from this era, I tend towards jazz and blues and actually enjoy Amy Winehouse. I have also become a great fan of old Indian music, being of Indian origin, seems to play a role in this something about trying to reach back to my roots, but I can assure you, this is as far as the roots thing goes.
There are other things that change, material things become less and less important and those intangibles such as happiness, love, peace and spirituality become more important. I believe that you should define who you are through action deeds and thought, never let your possessions, your wealth or your title define who you are cause when these they fade into nonexistence you will loose yourself.
The most liberating lesson of all that I have learned, whatever I am doing, right now is what I am meant to be doing, nothing more nothing less.
So all in all there is one thing that is definite, if I am faced with the same choices now as I was before, I would take a different cause, not because I would necessarily know better, but because I realise that it is far more important to experience life from every perspective and hopefully have a more fulfilling meaningful experience.
So I hope this inspires you to live your life and grow old gracefully but most of all be "young at heart"... ;-)
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