Youth — A State Of Mind?
Young forever or young as long as you think so?
For some reasons (fear among others), approaching 30 feels like life is getting way too serious and I often get challenged into loosing that youngster sparkle that is still dear to my soul (I think my soul probably stopped growing at age 15, hahaha).
Earlier today I came across the poem “Youth” by Samuel Ullman that resonated a lot. I cannot let life’s circumstances steal my joy of life and the sun in my heart and soul. Age is relative and is only a number, what matters is the mindset one cultivates along the way.
Here an attempt to create a poem — there are no rimes yet, I’ll get better with time.
A Poem by me: I still aspire
I still aspire to dream as big as my imagination allows it.
I still aspire to take risks and assume responsibility for whichever outcome result from them.
I still aspire to new adventures and new horizons.
I still aspire to see a way where there is no way, make a path where no one sees possibilities.
I still aspire to grow, learn from my mistakes and become a better human.
I still aspire to keep my standards and ideals, not settle for less.
I still aspire to travel the world and meet people who live in their own ways authentically.
I still aspire to FLY and if my wings get weaker on the way, I will land where they fully break and make that place my new “home”.
I still pray that God bless me with many good healthy years to live so that I can aspire even more, create and enrich those I love and the world on the way.
Here bellow the poem about youth that inspired me. Original source here.
Youth — A Poem By Samuel Ullman
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.
Marla Bishop : reading some of your posts earlier today inspired me to write a tentative poem this evening. Thank you for the inspiration :). And such an honour that you got the opportunity to meet Denzel in person.
Charlene Fate — Thank you for your spirit and optimism. This quote bellow from your article made me smile :). I loved the parallelism between jogging and laughing:
“Laughter is a form of internal jogging. It moves your internal organs around. It enhances respiration. It is an igniter of great expectations.”- Norman Cousins
Until next time my dear reader: THANK YOU. Thank you for your time and support. I wish the best you visualise for yourself and even more. Take great care of yourself on the way.
One love 💜
