Week Five 2015 – You are only as old as you feel!

You are only as old as you feel!

Can you believe we are on week five of 2015? And how time flies when you are having fun… and I don’t look a day older!

This week I’m going to talk about age and the subject of how old you feel and look. It is a subject I think we are all affected by and an important part of our lives. The well-known classic fairy tale of Peter Pan is perhaps the best story ever told about how a human should live his life. The whole plot can be summarised as follow:

The story of a man who knew how to live his life - by staying young! He was able to do grown up things that he liked (fighting with swords and staying up late) but be childish at the same time. He was fit and in shape by running, climbing, laughing and a bit of flying. The moment he saw he would grow old by doing other grown up things he didn’t like (marrying Wendy and getting a job to pay the car, having kids, a mortgage and a dog and be miserable eating too much food and drinking to drown his sorrows) he ran away and remained youthful for the rest of his life.

Ok that’s a cynical view of the story but I think there’s some truth in my version of the plot. Think about it; how old do you feel? And does that reflect on your appearance? How about your attitude and the way you behave? More often than not, the way we feel affects the way we look and therefore if you feel 100 years old you will look 100 more! When I was a child I grew up believing that 60 years old was very old! I guess my grandmother’s generation had a harder life and by the time they hit their 60s they were already looking tired and feeling very old. And this image of someone being old at the age of 60 has always hunted me, even though I see now plenty of evidence that when you reach that stage of your life you are still very young. With the right attitude, staying fit and looking after yourself, you can look even younger.

Amazing Joan Collins!

Emmanuel looking great!

This week I watched in the news some of the Red Carpet events (it’s awards season!) and they featured Joan Collins in an amazing black sequence dress with a leg slit all the way to her hips. In the clip she looked an amazing mature woman and when the presenter mentioned she was 82 years old I nearly fell off my chair! Has she had some help from the knife? For sure but even with a little help from her surgeon, her health, her attitude and conviction that she is still a beautiful young woman is what made her look like in her 60’s! I also found out this week that the Mexican Pop Idol “Emmanuel” is just about to turn 60 and this also astonished me, same story, he looks amazing and you would never thing he was more than 50. His looks, attitude and thirst for staying current make him look not just young but contemporary.

And I myself was the subject of looking young this week. Two people mention I did not look my age (I’m turning 48 this year and both said I looked 40) Apart form being a massive complement it also made me think about how I feel; I don’t feel 48, I feel 30 and this is driving my physical appearance to be much younger. I have always felt young, I’m a bit of a Peter Pan, I enjoy being a grown up as well as a youth. The difference is I have taken on all the responsibilities that perhaps Peter Pan ran away from (the marriage, kids, car, mortgage, job) as they complement my life and create a balance. It’s good to feel young and do crazy things, but you also need that stability and maturity in your life, that doesn’t mean I have to look or feel old!

There is no denying that loosing weigh has also contributed to shaving off some years, Peter Pan kept fit all the time, and staying fit has given me an extra burst of energy associated with being young. And staying healthy then drives your mental attitude; to feel young you must also stay mentally young and you will look young. Then you start to dress young. My wife often has to drive me away from the teenage section in the department stores, as I keep on looking at cloths that my son wears (him and I are almost the same height and I started to borrow some of his stuff, how embarrassing! For him of course!) Hey, if you can wear it and look good in it, then why not!

I don’t think you have to pretend to be a teenager to feel young, or suddenly loose all sense of responsibility and give up all your achievements and accomplishments to be young again. I think the secret to feeling young is to believe you are still young. Age is an attitude and what you make it. You can be 100 years old, if you keep mentally and physically fit, you can continue to enjoy life to the max and not become a stereotypical person of your age. At 47, with a family and a mortgage, I do have to act responsibly, people relay on me, but that does not stop me from keeping a young heart and healthy mind and body and an attitude that allows me to look much younger than I really am.

So it’s time to shave off some years, look at your attitude and not your age. Keep healthy and start believing that you can do anything you want, your age is just a number on your birth certificate!