Growing old isn’t as scary as you think.
Humans are so obsessed with the lengthening and preserving of youth, until we completely forget to prepare for ageing and the finality of death.
After all, who likes to face such depressing thoughts?
We’d rather read stuff on the latest technology to grow a heart from stem cells or cryogenic advances, than boring magazines titled “Silver” or “Health” (with the exception of sports titles).
Hardly anyone bothers to make ageing sexy, other than fashionistas and models in their 70s and beyond, or the occasional “What no one told you about sex when you’re old” online posts.
We age as soon as we are conceived. Why is ageing past our “prime of 20-40 years old” such a difficult pill to swallow?
Are there unconscious beliefs or misconceptions that hold us back from believing that as we grow older, we revert to a lesser state of existence?
I refuse…
I refuse to believe that I’ll be a rotten old bat past the age of 60, and will suddenly become irrelevant upon reaching retirement age.
I refuse to give up on running, drinking, traveling and sex when I’m past 70 simply because “these are NOT things a 70 year old does”.
I will refuse to die at 90 even if that’s the end of my HDB lease buyback and my grandchildren want an inheritance for their university fees.
I refuse to postpone my reflections and plans on retirement, dying and death till I hit 40 and beyond.
I refuse to believe in the existence of age boundaries which limits what I can do, because what I can do is limited by the boundaries existing in my beliefs.
I refuse to perceive ageing as the decline of living a fulfilling life, and use this time as an opportunity to live better.
It’s just a matter of time before you’ll have to make your choices too.