IS AGE REALLY JUST A NUMBER?

Age is just a number, they say.

If you know me well, you probably know how much I dislike clichés and overused sentences and expressions. Besides, I disagree that age is just a number.

I am turning 57 today. And I can attest that it’s not “just a number”. There are lots of changes that come with aging, some unpleasant, some great.

Today I need to work out twice as hard to accomplish what I could when I was in my 20s. Muscle loss is real, and it’s a daily fight to prevent it from happening.

I am hot most of the time – ladies of a certain age will understand.

My energy is pretty good, but certainly not as good as when I was younger.

So, yeah, there are changes that come with age. But the changes I want to focus on today are not the physical ones.

We grow and mature every day. But, at least for me, getting closer to the end than the beginning (and I say this in a matter-of-fact way, not in a negative way, at all) makes you finally face some realities, look at your patterns with honesty, and make decisions to improve your life.  

There were so many patterns that I worked to break in the last few years. That gave me so much freedom from the victim mentality. The understanding that, yes, I can choose who I surround myself with, who I open myself to, and who I allow into my space – that’s priceless, and something I couldn’t even dream of achieving when I was in my 20s.

The other powerful thing is learning to say NO. Some people will distance themselves from you when you finally learn to say no, but that’s not a bad thing. It shows you who is willing to respect you and honor your boundaries. Have I mastered it? Absolutely not. But I am getting better at it day by day.

With age, hopefully, comes a level of self-knowledge that’s really powerful. It comes from lived experiences, from relationships (good and bad), from successes and failures. You may make the same mistake 1, 2, 3 times, but at some point, you learn to ask yourself: do I really want to walk down that path again?

Knowing that my time is precious, I now spend it more wisely, doing things that are important to me, with people that enrich me and support me.

Self-reflection, at least for me, is also a big one. That pause to check and notice how I feel in any given situation, and how I feel after spending time with certain people. With age, I learned to trust that feeling and allow it to guide me to make better decisions. When I was younger, I wanted to be popular. Now that I am older, I want to feel safe and supported.

So, no, age is not just a number. It matters; it makes a difference. I am proud of all my experiences – all of them – because each taught me a little something about myself and got me closer to the person I want to be.

Happy birthday to me!