Biological, or physiological, age is a measure of how well or poorly our body is functioning; this is compared relatively to one’s actual calendar age. But, you’re age is not the barometer of leading an active life. Stop looking at the calendar and bothering about how old you have become; stop this immediately. The calendar tells you what your chronological age is, but this number may be far from precise in defining who you are.
Medical practitioners have dispensed with the value of chronological age as a variable to use in research. We get bogged down with our chronological age – feeling younger or older. Well, another drawback of the chronological age is that it cannot be experimentally manipulated. And, why should anyone do that?
When life touches fifty, for some, working on a same project or job for too many years becomes wearisome, for others mundane
activities are boring, while for some restless souls retirement just isn’t an option. And for few, inspiration hits them late in life. What do we call these people? Seasoned, experienced, mature, established, old, aged, older, too old – these are people to be correctly tagged as “Late Bloomers.” The Wikipedia describes them as “a people whose talents or capabilities are developed at a later stage in life”. But whatever you do, don’t call them old. These entrepreneurs, scientists, artists, creative lot of people waited until after 50 to start their art/business/hobby/passion, and they’re adding gold to their golden years.
Late, Captain Krishnan Nair, who set up the first Leela Hotel, The Leela Kempinski in Mumbai, did it at the age of 65. He then said “I still feel that I am a beginner and have yet to learn a lot.” Actor Boman Irani entered the filmdom at 44. He once said in his interview “I have been a late bloomer in every aspect of my life. Earlier, I had got into photography at 32-33. I didn’t expect cinema to take on my life,” Irani, caught people’s attention with his role in Munnabhai MBBS. Peter Roget published his giant list of words as a book, Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases at age 73. Perhaps the oldest known athlete to win an Olympic medal was a Swedish shooter by the name of Oscar Swahn who had two medals won in the Summer Olympics when he was 72 years old. Corporate guru and author Gurcharan Das took up writing as his principal occupation in his 50’s. Col. Harland Sanders who is famous for Kentucky-fried Chicken got success when he was 65.
Can accomplishment and meaningfulness in life be attached to age? The answer obviously is “No.” And what’s life when you look back and deeply regret of not having done things which you wanted to. The reasons for not doing things which you wanted to could be many. Sometimes genuine, while other times it could be fear of failure. Fear of losing some valued thing in life. These days when the life spans are growing longer, that means we are living longer than ever, what is the rush of achieving everything when you are young? When you do things which you enjoy the most, which are truly creative, it makes you fresh, bouncy and gives you exuberance and energy.
I think that it is never too late to begin doing things which you wanted to at the (so-called) old age. Sometime in your life, at whatever age you are put yourself at the top of your list, prioritize, and do what you’ve always wanted to do. No matter if you’re in your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, or beyond, you still have an opening, a chance to do what you wanted to do. Becoming successful does not have an age bar. It is not limited to one certain age or even one career. Instead of getting bored, feeling left out, feeling lonely in the race of life try to re-invent you. Give yourself some valued time, love yourself, and revive your interest. The most successful people are the ones who have reinvented themselves, tried, failed, and tried again. Let’s redefine the word failure as simply a plan that didn’t work the first time around. It may just need a few twists, tweaks and determination.
Another point of view is that of specialization; it is some sort of compulsion. People usually have many interests and passions. Why
should we get trapped in the “specialization” format? Why should we kill our curiosity and astonishment? Let’s not get disparaged by some specialization in life. You might have too many hobbies, interests to settle in life. Go out, discover, experiment, give your life some more chances and just ENJOY every single moment of your life. Make your mantra “Better late than never.”
