There are many ways by which you can define youth.  It might be age, maturity or some other characteristic.  There is one way that most people don’t think of, maybe because by the definition, they still are young – and who wants to be old?  It is what I call the invincibility factor.  It is a belief that when we are young we are invincible from the ravages of aging and the fact of our pending death.  Neither one is a pleasant topic so why dwell on them?  As long as you don’t think about them, as long as you believe – even foolishly – that you are invincible, then you remain young.  We all have this failing.  It matters not your age; it has to do with a mindset.

This all came to mind because this past summer was a challenging one, to say the least, from the standpoint of my health.  Now in my seventh decade of life, the wall of invincibility that had been with me throughout my life came crumbling down.  It has been a summer of dealing with a few health issues that while not immediately placing me at death’s door has cleared my mind of that elusive goal of invincibility.  It has been a summer of reminding me that the aging process that I saw in my elders is at work on me as well.  The strength and stamina of my youth has been replaced with tenacity and patience.  I have crossed a threshold that I never thought about.  Although we age, we never think of ourselves as growing old.  We may be ‘agier’ but not older; we are eternally young.  Or so we are until Father Time and Mother Nature conspires to remind us that we are not invincible, that youth is not an eternal thing, that we do not remain forever young.

But lament not.  That recognition doesn’t have to be a negative in our lives.  Rather it can just serve to remind us how precious life is, and it shouldn’t be squandered.  Anger needs to be shed.  Confrontation needs to be replaced with compromise.  The rush of living needs to be replaced with taking time to enjoy the moment.  Hatred needs to be replaced with at least respect, if not love.  The ones we love need to be told of that fact again and again. 

Losing our youth should be a time to replace that invincibility with the maturity and wisdom we garnered over the years.  If you do, you find you need not be invincible to enjoy life.  Seniorhood can be exciting and satisfying.