(This is me yesterday!❤)
Hey Nineteen – Steely Dan
It’s hard times befallen soul survivors
She thinks I’m crazy but I’m just growing old
Hey nineteen
(no we got nothing in common) We can’t dance together
(no we can’t talk at all)
Please take me along when you slide on down
Happy New Year!
This is a fun song I always loved to listen to! The people singing are like my age (30 something years old I think) and they feel old upon meeting a nineteen year old girl. Even though I’m their age, I feel more like the nineteen year old! Lol I look and feel, act, and just seem much younger than my actual age. What makes us “old” or “young” and happy or not is our attitude, not our chronological age. I frequently hear/see people saying and writing that when we get to be thirty years old, our body and other things start to go downhill. It’s only true if we let it be. I’m well over 30 years old and am anything but old or going downhill. My body is strong and healthy and extremely energetic. I never get tired, except a healthy/normal tired at night, and I work seven days a week, sometimes 24 hours or nearly 24 hours non-stop!
If we have a lighthearted attitude and don’t care about age along with keeping our body as healthy as possible (physical exercise, meditation, healthy food, sleep/rest when needed…), age does not matter. When we’re old/middle aged, can we still have fun with friends and family? Yes! Can we still taste food? Yes! Can we still breathe? Yes! Can we have fun watching movies, going out, reading, doing whatever activites we like to do? Yes! Can we still exercise? Yes! Can we still work? Yes! Does our thinking process still work? Yes! Can we go out on romantic dates? Yes! Dress in sexy clothes? Yes! Try new things? Yes! Go on vacation? Yes! Change jobs! Yes! Go to school? Yes! Hook up with random strangers? Yes! (Lol) Find true love or keep true love? Yes! Help those in need? Yes!
So why does age matter? We can do all the same things as when we were young even if it’s not socially acceptable (certain fashion choices are often considered to be for young people, for example, but so what?).
“Tired” is often the default response when asked how we are. Everywhere I go, I hear it. People who are much younger than I am are frequently complaining about being an adult and therefore so tired.
And I’m frequently seeing memes about it on social media, about how being an adult equals being tired.
(So accurate these days!! Not my photo!)
Frequently being tired or fatigued is a result of less than perfect health, being overworked, or being unhappy, stressed, distressed, imbalanced in some way…healthy, happy, balanced adults are not constantly fatigued or tired. This isn’t to say we are definitely tired if we’re stressed or something but that if we are frequently tired, something is draining us so fix it.
It’s not a good thing to just accept it as being part of adulthood.
I know a cute & sweet 87 year old lady, named Mary, who is very happy, healthy, and physically active. She frequently brags about her age and how healthy she is!😍
She’s an animal lover, very Liberal politically but loves those with opposing views.
She goes shopping, does not have much money, is single, goes to all different events, does volunteer work, decorates for holidays, cooks, hosts celebrations at her house for holidays, ballgames, her and her daughter welcome everyone, even strangers so no one has to be alone on “special” occasions…and she was even asked on a date recently by a younger man! (She said no because he is a bit younger and she doesnt know him well but at 87 years old she is still turning the heads of younger men! She also said the world is full of idiots so we should just stay single! 😂 )
Age is no excuse to be unhappy, to be always tired, to be unhealthy, to be trudging along through this life dragging and complaining!
Whatever we can do as a younger person, we can do now!
And this goes for anything we want but do not have. Without it, we can still have fun, still go out, still dress up, still love….
It can be painful to want what we do not have (to be younger, friends, kids, a romantic relationship, fulfilling job, our own house, a school degree, more money, better health….) but we do not need those things to be happy. It’s true, some of those things would bring us a kind of happiness we won’t have without them but it doesn’t mean we can’t be ultumately happy or just as happy in general without.
It’s all about the attitude. Stop thinking we’re old and we won’t be!
I’m 30 something years old, have a job I love but not a job that brings a lot of money, I’m in financial debt, do not live on my own, don’t have good in-person friends, am single, don’t have a family of my own….but am still generally happy and never tired or feeling old! It’s a good reminder for me also because sometimes I let myself get unhappy about not having lots of friends to do stuff with when most people do. I remind myself I can still have fun and be happy anyway and I can love myself even if no one else does. ❤ I do have a couple friends but not good ones and one I never see. But that’s ok!
Focus on the good, keep the body well nourished, be active, physically, do some mindfulness exercises even if for just five minutes a day, help others, don’t set unrealistic goals or have unrealistic expectations, lose the life timeline where certain things “should” be done by a certain age, stop the negative comparisons with others, say no to perfectionism, try new things, fun hobbies, get rid of the “I should be but I’m not” mentality, protect our energy….and we will be happy, energetic, and young no matter our actual age!
Much love,
Kim ❤
A Dose of Inspiration 