a lifetime of firsts...
i attended a 50th birthday party last weekend, and i was reminded of the passage of time. i'm still a decade away from the half-century myself, but i've been doing some reflecting about aging. i started to think that maybe 'young' is simply when you're always looking ahead, whereas 'old' is when you spend more time looking back, rather than ahead. i'm still looking forward a lot; to what i don't know, but the future - my future specifically - holds so much potential. i am, however, looking back a fair bit; i'm now at the age i remember other people being - people whom i thought were 'old'. 40 isn't old. nor is 50, for that matter. however, when i was 22, 40 sure seemed old. i now know better...
i think if we keep challenging ourself, we continue to remain young. to do this, we need to find things to do for the first time. i believe that when we fall into the situation where we've become set in our ways, we become old. maybe young is when we make mistakes and learn from them; old is when we think we know better, and we no longer make mistakes. or: young is when we are doing things for the first time; old is when we have enough experiences such that we don't do anything for the first time any more. if that's the case, let me try something new each day, and not fear failure or embarassment.
on that note, i painted my first ever watercolour a couple of weeks ago. i loved doing it so much that i painted my second watercolour only a few days later. i hope to take digital photos of these paintings and put them up on my flickr account. i can't believe it took me so long to try this. i wonder what else i should be trying for the first time. any suggestions? leave a note...
i was at lunch last week with an old friend of mine. we concluded that it's not about what you know; it's about how you communicate what you know. i've been thinking about this. i know some terribly annoying people; people who aren't talking if they're not talking about themselves. i steer clear of these types, but inevitably, we have to deal with them. i also think about how we meet new people all the time. i like to think i'm open-minded, but the truth is, with some people, we feel an immediate connection, and can speak openly with them right away. being a shy person at first, i think i may cherish these 'connections' more readily than most.
i looked out my window a few minutes ago and it was snowing. snow in april... winter's last gasp.... die winter, die! outside on the grass i saw a single bird happily bouncing along in the snow. it was a robin. i smiled because the robin looked so happy. it looked at me, and happily bounced along on its way...
i think if we keep challenging ourself, we continue to remain young. to do this, we need to find things to do for the first time. i believe that when we fall into the situation where we've become set in our ways, we become old. maybe young is when we make mistakes and learn from them; old is when we think we know better, and we no longer make mistakes. or: young is when we are doing things for the first time; old is when we have enough experiences such that we don't do anything for the first time any more. if that's the case, let me try something new each day, and not fear failure or embarassment.
on that note, i painted my first ever watercolour a couple of weeks ago. i loved doing it so much that i painted my second watercolour only a few days later. i hope to take digital photos of these paintings and put them up on my flickr account. i can't believe it took me so long to try this. i wonder what else i should be trying for the first time. any suggestions? leave a note...
i was at lunch last week with an old friend of mine. we concluded that it's not about what you know; it's about how you communicate what you know. i've been thinking about this. i know some terribly annoying people; people who aren't talking if they're not talking about themselves. i steer clear of these types, but inevitably, we have to deal with them. i also think about how we meet new people all the time. i like to think i'm open-minded, but the truth is, with some people, we feel an immediate connection, and can speak openly with them right away. being a shy person at first, i think i may cherish these 'connections' more readily than most.
i looked out my window a few minutes ago and it was snowing. snow in april... winter's last gasp.... die winter, die! outside on the grass i saw a single bird happily bouncing along in the snow. it was a robin. i smiled because the robin looked so happy. it looked at me, and happily bounced along on its way...
posted by owen at 3:52 PM
3 Comments:
Well, Owen, I have heard that "old " is at least 10 yearss older than you are now. In YOUR case, however, old is at least 20 years older..since I am sitting on 50, and I refuse to be classified as old yet!
Wouldn't you like to know what that Robin was thinking as it bounced about in the snow? "Dang! My toes are cold!" Heh! Susan
hdwinters last gasp....bouncing along on the snow....that's just poetry owen owen! :) oh and I WANT to see those watercolors!!! But I won't even address the old issue...too close to home. love, me dreamboat me *wink*
Nice post. Lucky that I happened to come across it. I think that just about everyone has pondered on the topic about age. As I say, "Keep your inner child alive and you shall experience mortality."
Happy writing and painting.
-Karen
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