You Are as Young as You Are — You Are as Old as You Choose

Age is biological, chronological and psychological

Being old is my turf!

I’m a lawn of verdant grass — Though no longer green, unseasoned — Yet ever growing, trimming, mowing, Continuing to sprout new shoots And flourish Despite tick-tocks of passing years Beating to biology’s clock.

This unique hybrid born of genes Imbued with joys and sorrows Of yesterdays, today — And less tomorrows — Sees no reason To despair the end is Nearer than my beginning.

Staying young within the mind Is key to longevity These wrinkled folds are not entwined By muttering mouths — often unkind — “She’s so old!”

I don’t need pity.

May I be so bold to ask you, Come! Bring me your eyes and ears While I regale you with backstories Of those many memorable years You have yet to live.

Look into me, don’t judge my cover, Only know my body’s frailty, Where fingers which once plucked guitar And dreamed of being a music star Now fumble at the check-out till To grasp the change, yet with a will Born of learned determination Do not cause me consternation.

Waves of energy vibrate With courage, love, never too late To feed the birth of young neurons. Vibrant brain strums carefree songs Sparked by an inquiring mind Which age shall never undermine.

I can’t stop growing older But growing old I shun, Each daily shift grow bolder And stay forever young.

Backstory

In my teens, I looked younger than my age and I resented that big time! Boys I fancied thought I was too young to date, assuming I was 12 when I was 14.

By the time I reached my 30's, my perspective changed.

What woman wouldn’t welcome compliments on how much younger than her age she looked?

Once you have a few decades under your belt, age difference is no longer an issue. I met my second husband at 35. (He thought I was 27.) We fell in love and remain together despite his being eleven years older than me!

I couldn’t have dated a man of 25 when I was 14!

When I reached my 60's, I continued to feel young in heart and mind, despite the evidence of biological aging, but wondered how I could keep my brain alert and fit.

My curiosity led me to delve into neuroscience where I discovered we grow new brain cells until the day we die and can keep our brains fit and alert with *neurobics.

*Definition: activities or mental tasks designed to stimulate the brain and help prevent memory loss.- Oxford Languages.

My first successful articles on this platform in early 2019 were about neuroscience, a topic which has fascinated me ever since. They included a variety of neurobic exercises.

We cannot halt our biological ageing, but the power to slow it down, or reverse it even a little, is within our grasp using the power of our minds — psychological.

Let me share the following experiment with you to prove my point.

The Counter-Clockwise Study

Ellen Langer, a Harvard Professor of Psychology, together with her students, conducted an experiment in 1979 to test the impact of our state of mind on aging.

She took a group of men aged 75 to a closed retreat, which had been converted into the year 1959, taking them back 20 years. The decor, furniture, music, magazines, newsreels, clothing, conversations — an authentic time capsule where they spent a week.

Tests for biological age included hearing, vision, grip, finger length, muscle mass, bone density, physical strength, blood, hormones, flexibility, and balance were conducted beforehand and at the end of the experiment.

The results were astonishing — the entire group had reduced their biological age by at least 7 years. A control group at the same location was older after a week, despite being in a relaxed environment.

I’m not suggesting you redecorate or replace your entire wardrobe, but playing music from your past is an easy ask. And dance to it — the best form of exercise for us wise elders!

I shall leave you with a bunch of mature folks who hit the headlines some 16 years ago with a performance of My Generation recorded at Abbey Road which will astound you.

Keep rocking, stay young, and thank you for being here.

My gratitude to Sahil Patel for this irresistible prompt I couldn’t ignore, being of a certain age!