felice20 inches fresh powder first tracks Alta Utah. BadAss, that’s me!
Everyone is guilty of asking….How old are you or How old is She? But why do we ask that question?
What are we really getting at when we ask that question? Is it a competition as younger is better? Maybe that’s why we ask? But I’ve been thinking, I mean most of my friends are within 5 to 7 years of each other — why are we so obsessed about how old we are?
What’s strange is that question has always annoyed me because it makes me feel pigeon holed — and that’s because my real age casts me in a place that doesn’t reflect how I really feel. Disclosing my real age strikes me as incorrect, that I need to rethink the number as there may be some miscalculation.
When I think about my real age, I think someone got it wrong. I mean how can I be in my 60’s which feels perhaps too old to feel the way I feel . I am still doing pretty much everything I did in my 50’s…
Yes….almost everything with modifications and some things I’m doing way better!
Stamina: Getting out of breath is definitely a factor in feeling older and perhaps that’s a factor in masking the feeling of aging for many of us who don’t Feel our age. Ten years ago I didn’t know how many steps I walked or what my Vo2 level was but now my Apple Watch assures me my capacity to process oxygen is excellent which makes the aging thing seem a bit irrelevant as well. Thanks Apple. Apparently my stamina is that of someone 10 years younger.
Sports: Even though I love to do the same sports, I have definitely modified my output. But the point is I’m doing all of them just differently. It’s not as fun to ride my bike longer than 25 miles and I used to enjoy a 40 mile road bike ride.
I don’t want to do 3 sports a day anymore but I do like 2 sports a day. I don’t jog anymore and i couldn’t do another Boston Marathon which I ran 10 years ago. Frankly I wasn’t very good at it 10 years ago!
Pain: Aches and Pains are definitely a factor in feeling older and when I asked my friend who suffers from back pain how old she feels she said…. “I feel one hundred!” Luckily, I don’t suffer aches and pains which I think closes the gap between 10 years ago and today. I feel pretty much the same.
Our Brains and Multi Tasking : Our brains are for sure indications of our aging. We all say, our recall isn’t what it used to be and we have to be fully conscious to recall stuff. That seems like a good thing no?
We live in a faster paced world with screens to distract us. I used to think I could be on the computer and talk on the phone at the same time but I couldn’t. Now I’m mature enough — not just older — but wiser — and I can admit that I can’t multi-task anymore and admittedly I never could very well. And frankly, I am much more present now because I don’t multi-task as much which makes conversations and writing and living way better than it used to be.
Sleep: Oh and I sleep better in my 60’s and am more rested without menopause pulsing though my skin and accelerating my heart rate ever so randomly.
Moods: Again, Bye Bye to the waves, the highs and lows from the onslaught of 10 years of menopausal symptoms and hello to predictable bodily functions which result in a greater sense of contentment and balance. This definitely makes me feel way better, meaning younger and lighter and sharper.
New Friends: Focusing on the friends that are more in sync and mutually supportive has meant I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. Life feels simpler now, less frustrating and less worrisome. Making new friends who share interests has made friend time way more fun and less draining. And because my interests are very athletic most of my new friends are 5 to 10 years younger and the age difference fades away. It’s not about age, it’s about getting out there and doing what we love and age has very little to do with it.
So, as I start to track these changes over the past 10 years, I actually feel lighter and better now than I did 10 years ago.
Wait, wait — am I lying to myself? I mean I am literally building a case here to say that I feel younger than I did even 10 years ago. Is this self delusion? Is this denial or optimism?
Am I just trying to stay relevant and perhaps delaying the inevitable reality that my Real Age is older than my Feel Age.
Hmmmm, I don’t think so..
I like this Feel Age thing. I’m going to go with that from now on. It aligns way better for me and frankly the Real Age feels like a drain. I mean when I say my real age it just sounds so wrong. Like someone screwed up my birth certificate.
So — that’s it. It’s all good. I’m in charge of me and I’m pretty clear that my Feel Age is 10 years younger than my Real Age.
What about you?