The Old Guys In the Room

Let's play a quick game. I'm going to name an industry and you think of some prominent names that come to mind and we'll see if the people I name jibe with those you thought of. Ok? Let's try it and see what happens. Try not to look under the heading or title somehow!

Movies

Wil Smith, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender

Action Movies

The Rock, Jason Statham, Liam Neeson, Robert Downey Jr., Christian Bale

Sports

Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Peyton Manning, David Beckham

Did any of these guys cross your mind at all? Were any of them the first you thought about? I guess you're wonder what my point is. My point is this; the proverbial fountain of youth is what our modern leading man has seemed to find. The average age of these guys is 42 years old. That seems old, but according to who?

For years humans have fought the battle against aging. Whether by  means such as plastic surgery , or dressing 'younger' or dating people half their age. This obviously is an innate fear of our own mortality, to think of the frailty of life or getting old is to have essentially died in some way. Men have the fear and fight it just as much as women. It's so funny how people under 30 think being in your thirties means you're old. People in their thirties think that people in their 50's are old and so on. It's the never-ending quest to remain young. The Peter Pan construct.

I look at my parents and they are about to hit 60 and though physically they are not who they once were, they are mentally. I used to have a fear of growing older and believing the false doctrine that certain things should be accomplished by a certain age, but I no longer subscribe to that. Why? Because it places undue pressure on one's self to do something simply because you 'think' or people 'expect' you to do it by a certain age. Yes, the clock does tick with our bodies because we are living, breathing things, and therein lies the rub-if you are a living thing, then you must one day cease to live. It's the natural order of things. Once you embrace that, it makes things so much easier. I look at my son and see this child with so much life ahead of him, and am thankful and hopeful that I can spend much of it with him. For him to bury me in my ripe old age(Lord willing) means completion of my life circle; but his goes on, because of the life I lived and the fact that I brought him here.

I say all this to say that today, just one day short of my 35th birthday I am thankful. I feel better than I ever have in life before. Better mentally, better emotionally, better physically. I'm wiser than I was last year, stronger, and just as fast as I was at 22 years old (well, close-I've only lost a second off my sprint times!). As I look at the aforementioned who come to the forefront of our minds in their respective fields, I'm filled with joy because I know my best years are still ahead!