Now that we have moved, emphatically, into the New Year, it is a question that one is, often, asked. Having just experienced a birthday, myself, I know I have. The fact is that I can, only, offer an informed value judgement, in response. Now, if you ask me the question, “What age are you?”. I can answer that because age is, just, a number.
Let me introduce you to a new word, of my own invention and, now, formally inducted into the ‘Lawson Lexicon’. The word is ‘Oldness’. Oldness requires a much more complex assessment, than Age. It derives from your pre-ordained genetic characteristics, your experiences in life, your health, lifestyle and attitudes that you have developed, over the years. It is the aggregation of these and many other factors that creates a function, which defines your personal Oldness. Because of the range of variables involved, no two Oldness functions are the same. Accordingly, there can be no standard correlations between Age and Oldness, although much energy has been expended in attempting to create age stereotypes.
Let me give you an example. I have a friend, whom I have known since schooldays. By the age of twenty-two, he had, already, married and was father to his first child with a second, on the way. He had purchased his first home and was saddled with a mortgage akin to the National Debt. He drank too much and took little exercise. He was, already, showing early signs of chronic ill-health problems to come. He seemed committed to getting many of life’s standard experiences ‘out of the way’, as soon as possible, in some irrational headlong rush to the grave. What age was my friend, when I formed this opinion? Twenty-two. How old was my friend, at that time? Somewhere in his late fifties. A prime example, I think, of Age versus Oldness.
There is no way of controlling your age. The science does not yet exist (well, certainly, not on this planet} of manipulating time. However, the good news is that you can exert influences over your Oldness. It is achieved through a healthy diet, a physically active lifestyle and a consistently positive outlook on life: above all. a predisposition to accept new thinking and move with the times. In these areas, you, certainly, have a degree of control.
You can’t sidestep advancing years…..
Just don’t get old!
This theory contributed to the DNA of the following Training Package