Age is a reminder of how long you’ve been journeying. It’s not a clock that tells you what you need to do at certain points.
For the past several years of my life, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to remember how old I am. Every time that I remember, I’m more so surprised than anything else.
It’s a strange feeling but it’s not caused by memory loss but rather how I’ve been treating age for the past several years.
It’s simply a number.
I’ve shared this sentiment before with people setting expectations for when certain things should be happening in their lives. I stand behind that we shouldn’t have our life all planned out based off of arbitrary numbers.
I remember someone telling me when I was 19 that I’d be married when I’m 25. I’m now 27 and still very much single, determined on building this business.
And there are many other examples of people who have done things at “the wrong time.”
In the end, people are not restricted by how old they are. I’ve said that before. But I’d like to stretch this concept farther.
Because these rules also apply to our pursuit of goals.
Typically people don’t set out to do things because “they’re too old.” They’re past their time to date, to open a business, to losing weight. And for sure there are limitations in terms of how you grew up paired with how old you are, but that doesn’t mean things are impossible.
Take Ernestine Shepherd who is 81 years old and is a bodybuilder.
She’s able to do those things because of years of practice and training.
But I feel that the reason deep down isn’t just with age but rather the extended period of time it’ll take to achieve that goal.
Some people don’t think they can start and run a successful business because it’ll take them far beyond the time they want to take.
Some people don’t want to exercise because it’ll take months or years to get their ideal body.
And sure most will be looking at the time factor, but I feel that some would also consider age. Especially those who say they’re too old for something.
What I believe is better for us all moving forward is this:
Regardless of our age, we should view our age as the period of time we’ve been on our journey.
With this view, when we set our goals, we can begin to remove the element of time and embrace the process and journey.
Sure, time doesn’t wait and is always moving forward, but we make the conscious decision to pay attention to it. And that’s my point.
If we always pay attention to it we can find ourselves making excuses around it. It’s where procrastination can stem from, or placing a restriction on our abilities because we only have so much time.
And while it’s true that we only have so much time here, I think it’s important for us not to pay attention to it. Because what is more important is what we do with that time.
Regardless of how much time we have, I think it’s a powerful mentality to only “restrict” our time when we wish to challenge ourselves.
But when we work on developing ourselves and achieving our goals initially it’s best to have the mentality of we’ll get it done when we get it done, regardless of our age or the time we have.
Written by: Eric S Burdon
