another year older

today, i enter the final year of my 4th decade, and the occasion has got me to thinking about age. it would be easy for me to sit here and lament the fact that "it's all down hill from here", or "i'm almost half-way to 80". but i won't. i think of age as just a number. i'm still young at heart, and i still feel i have so much to learn.

then i got to thinking what 'old' is...

Old is when you look back more than you look ahead.
Old is when all your important decisions have already been made.
Old is when you stop taking chances.
Old is when you start seeing people doing things you wish you'd done.
Old is an excuse.
Old is when you no longer wish you were older; you wish you were younger.
Old is when you start too many sentences with "i remember..."

i know i'm in better shape, physically and mentally, than i've ever been. i might not recover from little nagging injuries overnight, like i used to, but through cycling, i have a lot more endurance. i've never joined a gym or anything like that, but i've often thought about the way we are obsessed with working out, to improve our bodies. i wonder if we spend more time improving our body than we spend trying to improve our mind... the body is external, everyone sees it. the mind is inside, and less obvious. is it our need to 'look good' that motivates us to work out our bodies more than our minds? i'm kinda lazy, so i prefer the mental workouts more.... :)