My birthday was on Monday (will be to me – I’m writing this on Sunday) . And I’m now officially old. Well, actually I’ve been old for some time now. These grey hairs have been well earned. Even if they did appear overnight (FYI, I got sick and almost died of a blood infection several years ago, my hair turned white as a result and has slowly (and somewhat unsuccessfully) been returning to brown. I figure I’ll have my old hair colour back somewhere around the age of 102. ‘Course I don’t think I’ll live that long but … ).

Birthdays make a great time to reflect. Both on what’s been learned, and what’s been lost and also on where you stand.

There is a tendency in our society to believe that people past that certain age (either 30 or 40 depending on your age), aren’t able to handle the new technology and the changes of modern life. In short, they’re old and ready for pasture.

It ain’t necessarily so, bucko!

Since I turned 55 (not this year btw), I’ve started three new businesses, written three books, learned two new professions, discarded one profession, resurrected one profession and read many, many books.  Right at the moment, I’m looking at innovative marketing to resurrect one profession, launching another business (copywriting and web content …. ContentCreators.ca) and writing two new books. All at the advanced level of calcification of 57.

In short, I’m not ready to be buried quite yet.

Bluntly, it’s my leg that’s calcified NOT my brain.

Getting older can mean becoming more experienced. And yes, it can mean becoming set in one’s ways. And it can mean becoming less open to change. And it can mean reduction in energy levels.

But it doesn’t have to.

We each set our own rules. We live our own lives. And we make of them exactly what we want them to be.  If that means mental calcification, then so be it. I’ve met many mentally arthritic people in my life time … some of them were even out of their teens and twenties!

Mental arthritis is a function of exercise NOT of age. Sorry, just as I’ve met 90 year olds who were able to walk long distances (my great aunt regularly walked 10 blocks at the age of 103), I’ve met twenty-somethings who could not accept that change happens.

I’ve met many people with so-called twenty years of experience who’ve actually had one year of experience repeated twenty times.

So are you getting older? Or are you becoming more experienced?

Those things you want in life will only happen if you make them happen. Do you want to work for yourself? Then open a business. Now. Today. Not tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. Do it now. You aren’t too old. What are you afraid of?

Because the fear of change is really just a fear of something else.

Find out what you are afraid of, and manufacture, if you have to, a reason to do what you need to do. A reason that is more powerful than your fear.

Do something new. Every day. And don’t fall prey to mental arthritis.

And the next time someone says to you “He’s too old to be able to do the job”, remind them that mental arthritis is more likely to occur in those who aren’t looking for it — namely the young!