Age is Just a Number and Numbers Don’t Determine Your Life

 Numbers Don’t Determine Your Life, Age is Just One of Them

A mother of two, Bhavna Tokekar, 50-year –old, a power lifter, sets phenomenal four records in the World Powerlifting Championships at Manchestar, UK. For this championship, she competed in the 50-54 years category and performed miraculously. In the squat, she lifted 102.5 kg (the previous record- 90 kg), in benchpressed, 80 kg (the previous record- 40 kg) and she finished a deadlift 132.5 kg while the previous record was 105 kg. She was beaming with joy and elation after smashing all the three records with one more added feather in her cap, of accomplishing a combined lift of 315 kg. which beat the earlier record of 235 kg, set by Bunton Donna (90+40+105Kg) from the USA in 2012.

Bhavna, born in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh is a super mom and inspiration for those who think that dreams come with an expiry date, if you are growing older, you should leave your dreams behind as they are meant to be fulfilled in certain age limit. Once you cross that age you should stop thinking about new dreams, new aspirations and new beginning in LIFE. A feeling of loneliness wells up within that forces you to retrospect how many chapters of life you have written the best and what’s left to write anyore.

In Indian society, people take retirement as their end phase of life, as if working for some organization and getting a fixed amount called salary (and not the pension) credited in your bank account is the only purpose of life, in our society, we define everything with regard to numbers. If you are at a certain age, you must start a job, at this age, you should marry, by that age you must have kids- and the number definition goes on. So when one grows older he/she starts accepting that now there’s no scope for learning a new skill or developing a new habit and certainly there’s no question to start a new venture or getting engaged in something thrilling. Aging means slowly and gradually wait for the end of your life with countless complaints of deteriorating health and body strength. But do we really work hard throughout our young age for this type of life? And I know, most of you will agree with me- Certainly not! We aren’t working tirelessly with this aim.

After having run behind the lofty goals, ageing is like enjoying a halt; the time one can unwind, relax and process one’s thoughts and emotions what went good in life and what remained hollow. Age is just a number and you are always younger than those biggest dreams of yours which are yet to achieve. At any age you can start a new journey, set a new target and write a new, fresh chapter of your life. Age never has limitations; it’s you who set these limitations for yourself.

 

Conquer the Mountain in You-

Know Thyself is the best therapy, we often overlook our desires, demands or inner ambitions and undermine our capabilities especially with growing age. Knowingly or unknowingly we make wrong choices and block our dreams that lead us to the feelings of depression and incompetence. So, the most important thing is to know yourself and the expectations from yourself. When you know, what do you expect from yourself you understand better how to conquer the mountain in you and to achieve the pinnacle. Definitely, growing age comes with certain physical changes so the best practice is to respect your body and its responses, subtilize your physical and emotional equilibrium and stay present with it.

 

Charge Your Immunity and Creativity-

As we have already discussed that aging comes with so many physical and emotional CHANGES but one should embrace change willy nilly as its inevitable for growth but if you are well connected with yourself nothing can make you surf for long. Indulging in creative habits and new hobbies can boost your immunity at any age. Right food, perfect routine, healthy lifestyle, natural immunity boosters and enough sleep can be of great help. When you are happy and energized from within you get involved in more creative activities which are beneficial for both mental health and over all well-being. Set everyday creative goals for yourself and spending time on them will bring higher activated positive effect. Such positive effects can help you experience different emotions like- joy, happiness, pride, gratitude, serenity, blissfulness etc. which eventually lower stress levels and instills optimism in your personality. Learning music, playing an instrument or photography can be a few creative hobbies which keeps you at bay from monotony and boredom.

 

Stop Behaving Like a Chained Elephant-

An elephant is tied to a pillar with a chain since it’s a calf; and it is conditioned to accept that he can never set himself free from this chain. When he grows up, he acquires enough strength to pull the pillar out and walk free yet he never tries to do so, as he has accepted that he can’t break the chain. This is how mental conditioning works with humans also; we think that whatever boundaries or limits the society or the aging factors have set for us; we can never break them free. Thus we never attempt to do, what we like. Running behind career, family, children and all the social and professional responsibility deprive us of the ME time and taking care of our individual choices; we get stuck with the daily hustle and ignore our emotional needs, old age is the best time to explore and relive all those experiences that we missed in this race of life. We all have the capabilities to break the chains that we are tied up with and enjoy the bounty of life.

Remember!  Age is just a number and a number cannot determine when you start and when you will end it!