I often hear people say that we are only as old as we feel. I have seen college wrestlers after a match so exhausted that I am sure they felt very old at the time. I do believe that attitude matters in the matter of aging, as it matters very fundamentally in just about everything. Yesterday's blog included a link to a study on getting goose bumps and that article mentioned the importance of a person's attitude and state of mind in promoting or retarding the goose bump reaction on one's skin.
Still, I do think there is a possibility of being genuinely too old. Last summer, my wife and I hosted a young man from Europe for a few days while he got a little more familiar with the US and the English language. It was fun and he was a delight. However, the two of us could clearly see that because of his age as much as anything else, he lived in a different world from the one we now live in.
I have never been much of a user of what is called "night life" and at my present age, I have much less inclination to dance, drink and so forth than I used to. The two of us found that we just didn't think as he did, although his interests and drives were something like we felt as his age.
About 10 years after my last college wrestling match, I went into a training room with the idea of maybe helping some beginners a little bit or something like that. After a half hour of watching them strain and groan, I felt strongly that I wanted to advise them all to shower and go find their girl friends and enjoy life. I knew that any words against the stress and pain would not be welcomed by the ambitious young men and their coaches so I just left, realizing that I was too old.
Just as equipment can become obsolete, I think for given applications of our time and energy, we may really be too old, too different from what is called for or expected. As a friend said when we discussed this theme, I tend to start thinking of bed about 8:30 in the evening, not night life. I can push myself but I don't feel like it.
