I had a realisation not too long ago, I am turning 45 years old this year. I know that sounds ridiculous, but surely you know that feeling when someone asks your age and you have to think about it because you have "lost count"? Well, I actually had to count. I find my forties are vanishing. Granted, my birthday was only just before Covid started and then the world seemed to turn upside down and we have just tried to hold on this rollercoaster. I have worked so hard at staying as present as I can the last 4 years but only the last month have I felt like I could take a breath and feel present. To take a moment to look back and reflect.
For me, he concept of mid life is now in full view. I have many humorous conversations with clients about this phase of life. Its the phase when our bodies start to take too long to bounce back and we just don't have time to bother with fixing all the little niggles - deal with them later, and when later comes more urgently, we want a quick fix... Then there are my older clients, those that have reached the stage in there intellectual and personal life where they feel like they have started there prime years, but the body totally disagrees. That stage when we wish we appreciated what we had a little more and did those things we put off while we worked too hard. The "shoulders, hip, knees and toes" (as the song goes) start to fail us.
Did you every do that exercise at school with a time capsule? Or as an adult writing to your younger self? My daughter decided this past weekend to go through our old photo's and wouldn't stop carrying on about what we looked like. How awesome we were. The irony being we were so young and unsure of ourselves, most critical of ourselves. It is often said, rightfully so, YOUTH IS WASTED ON THE YOUNG.
My much older clients reflect back on there lives with such gratitude for what there bodies have lived through. The biggest complaint is the frustration that there minds are still young but there bodies can't keep up pace with their mind. We may be able to take pills to feel better, replace joints, fix some things, but everything has a price, a side effect, a consequence. We realise the real value of taking care of our bodies, often too late. They say time starts out slow, our school yearsdrag on, then they pick up pace, by the time we are older we have no idea how we got there so quick.
So I put it to you today. You are younger now than tomorrow, stop wasting that precious time thinking about youth and what could have been, and focus on appreciating now, what IS. Tomorrow is not promised. The same advise we would give our younger self, lets implement it today.
When we get older it will be harder for our bodies to bounce back, harder to do the same things that were easier a little while ago. I'm feeling that now. The thing is I have to still keep reminding myself to keep on carrying on. Accept what I can't change, deal with what I can and seek advice to know the difference.
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