At What Age Did You Turn 100?

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.  Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. " ~Samuel Ullman

"Youth is a wonderful thing.  What a crime to waste it on children."  ~George Bernard Shaw

"Do not regret growing older.  It is a privilege denied to many. " ~Author Unknown

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty."  ~Henry Ford

I'm currently 34 and I don't consider myself old.  Sometime around the age of 29-30, people around me starting blaming their injuries and various calamities on their age.  Especially in the gym, it is so common to hear the "my body doesn't respond like it used to" or "it takes me twice as long to recover as it used to in my twenties."  I think the day you start considering that age is what is causing your aches and pains is the day you actually do get old.

I wonder at what point these people convinced themselves they were old or worse yet, they took someone else's word for it.  Just because someone thinks your old, doesn't mean you are.  It's up to you how old you are.  The sooner you take that to heart, the sooner you can start living a fulfilling life at any age.  Remember the feeling of invincibility that you had growing up.  Do you remember the day in your life that you let that go?

"40 is not a death sentence."  George Foreman

George Foreman stopped boxing for 10 years and came back to win a heavyweight title at the age of 45.  Do you think he considered himself too old achieve his goal.  Evander Holyfield recently started boxing again well into his 40s.  I wonder if he considers himself too old to box.

Yes, we all age.  It's inevitable, and eventually we get old, bodies shrivel up, organs deteriorate and we die.  From where I stand, the problem isn't that we're all going to grow old and die, it's that some people decide to grow old and die before their bodies actually grow old and die.

Where is the rule book for life that says you can't do something because you are 30, 40, or 50?  Is it a written policy somewhere?  Everyone seems to know about this policy, but nobody knows where it comes from.  Take boxing for instance - surely everyone knows you can't start boxing when you're 60.  

Why not?  A 60 year old with 2 fists and legs has the same tools as the 20 year old.  Sure, there are probably a lot of differences in recovery times, and how skilled you can become but is there some reason a 60 year old can't hit a heavy bag?  Do the heavy bag police show up and arrest the 60 year old who does hit a heavybag?  Gerhard knows it's possible.

I'm being a little facetious here, but the point is that age is not a limiting factor.  It is simply a factor and if you have the desire and belief in yourself to try something new, then do it.  Stop listening to what other people are saying because if you do, you let them create your reality.  Instead, mold your own reality out of your own thoughts, and beliefs about how your world should be and then make it happen.

"Have a plan for your life, or someone else will"