60 doesn’t mean anything when you are 16
or even when you are 36. Youth has enough power to make ageing seem like a far
removed reality. You take life as the force that propels you to greater heights,
makes you achieve unbelievable feats and gives you the momentum to face
challenges. You go about the business of living as if each day is your first
and the last doesn’t exist.
Even when you reach the golden 50, 60
seems far away. You have a decade to get there and a decade is 10 blessed
years. You smile when young people tell you, you don’t look your age. Of
course, you don’t. You are only 50 and isn’t 50 the new 30 or something? You are
still healthy, strong (some lifestyle or genetic illnesses may have surfaced)
but by and large you are GOOD and the going is GOOD. And then before you can
say Jack Robinson - WHAM the decade is over!
60 is a strange age to arrive at. A
landmark of sorts and yet a dampener as it also indicates a kind of culmination
– of a life well lived, possibly in the fast lane – but somewhere asking you to
slow down (even if you don’t wish to). Physical ailments start playing
mind-games and Google becomes your best friend – it either kills you or saves
you from your real and imaginary illnesses! In any case, your memory plays
bigger games and you often walk around trying to remember why you are walking
around!
You are asked about your retirement
plans and whether you are looking at buying a home at an Old People’s
Community. People suddenly decide you look older than your age and even have
the temerity to tell you so. You go for a simple eyebrow threading and the PYT
doing the job tells you to go for Botox. You have to remind yourself not to
walk like a penguin, wear clothes that are age-appropriate and generally behave
like you are history. You are strangely and inexplicably not ‘with it’ any
more.
Suddenly, life is no longer about treating each day as your first but
more about living it as if it is your last! Cheers to the 60's and beyond!
