When Did Your Life Get Over? When Did You Stop Living?
What Is The Magical Number?
30 or 45 or 50? What is the magical number when you are almost done with your life? Or at least you start feeling that your life is over and the next generation of snobbish snobs are taking over?
For some the downhill starts as early as 35, for some it starts at around 50, for some more, when their retirement starts, but for some wizards, that age never really arrives.
While it is undeniable that the body turns frail with age, doesn’t the mind make the body more frail than it actually is?
Or maybe, the mind also starts to become weak with age? I don’t know yet.
However, what is really inspiring is that for some elderly people, that downhill never really starts. This set of people have had an active life all through, and they continue to remain active; either by way of habit, or by choice. They don’t display traces of that terribly cliched existence in which they sit under a tree and talk of how prestigious the bygone eras were. They follow their passions and see new days as they dawn.
They live. Every single day.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet such active people during my nature walks. I met an elderly lady, 59 years old sitting patiently under a thicket of bushes. I peeked in to check if she was fine and was pleasantly surprised when she walked out laughing from the bush with her photography gear. A thin-framed elderly lady with brilliant grey hair and a happily wrinkling skin, she was carrying a huge telephoto lens with her Nikon.
‘There was a brown-headed barbet around 30 minutes back. I’ve taken a shot of it, but I’m waiting for the bird to show up again,’ she smiled and pointed at a nearby tree.
We were both surprised; I at her love for her passion, she at a stranger interested in talking to her. She mentioned that photography was her hobby, and she was also waiting for her granddaughter’s chess class to get over.
‘Why waste time?’ she asked with a plain look.
I wanted to take a pic of her. The 59 year old obliged coyly.
The other day I also came across this gentleman who was playing the flute near the fountains. He was just happy playing the instrument, and not expecting an audience. His wife sat next to him and looked at him with love. While I listened to him and watched him play with intense passion, he nodded.
Such are the inspiring elderly people who race along with their lives even after they have retired, while we sloth at home watching Netflix for hours on end.
I’m sure there are a lot of elderly people who are retired from their day/night jobs and don’t have much to do at home. A little push and a little nudge from us can rekindle their passions. Keeping in mind health issues, we can do our bit by helping them do what they really loved to do in their heydays.
My dad is a walking price comparison website, and therefore, whenever he visits, I ask him to go to the nearby farmers markets and check out the fresh veggies and note down prices. He gets his daily walks, he is happy telling me that the supermarkets are killers, and he gets to meet new people.
I recently came to know of a group of grandmoms who travel across the country on their own. They have had a passion for traveling but realized it is never too late to do it. With the treasure of traveller’s tips they share, never cease to amaze me.
These people are the ones who inspire, not by doing massive work, but just by following the passions and by happily utilizing their free time. Age is not a limitation for them.
Why don’t we feel the same zeal at a younger age? What happens to a lot of us when we turn 30? Do we slip into a comfort zone, or do we just feel too tired to see a new day everyday?
Why are we so afraid to follow our passions?
Why do we stop living?
If we really really want to follow our passions in life, there is no better time than now. To start.
Starting is definitely the hardest thing to do, but it is also the smallest step we can take for ourselves.
It is never too late to follow our passions.
There is no figure to limit life. Age is just a numbing factor for the mind.
Don’t you think so?
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