When do we realize we are getting older? The answer is deeply personal, and depends on many things. A key component is how we treat our bodies over the years. In a mechanical sense, think of an old car that looks and runs like new, or vice versa. The state of the car, relative to its age, depends on how well it is maintained over the years. Aging of your body is clearly more complex, but the essence is the same – a body in ill repair will reach the dilemmas of age faster than if it was maintained. Your mental outlook is another component that also changes over time – how we view something at 50 might be different than how we viewed the same thing at 20. This is not due to dementia (which is a biophysical ailment), but more aligned with changes in how we have come to understand things. There are many other components, but in the simplest sense your “age” might be considered the intersection of these two. A person might be physically and mentally young, old or combination thereof. This leads to the bigger question of; “Do I like/accept my age, and if not, is there anything I can do about it?” Here is where you can have the greatest impact on aging well – by maintaining your body and keeping a healthy mental outlook – both of which are in your control. It’s not that you won’t age; it’s that you’ll find you don’t have to “grow old” as fast as you might have thought.
