Thursday 29 September 2016

Don't let your age define you!

I am on my soap box (surely not I hear you say!) – I was listening to Ian Wright (the footballer) talking on the Steve Wright show on Radio 2 the other day. He was telling us how accessible he was as a footballer and he talked to ‘little old ladies’. I wondered how it ever became acceptable to talk about people in terms of their age and size? I don’t even want to think about the response if I were to describe Ian according to his physical characteristics.

Let’s stop letting ourselves be defined by age or shape. Your age is a tally of how long you have lived, it’s not a marker of physical competence, mental agility or anything else. Some 80 year olds are incredibly smart, some 40 year olds lack a modicum of common sense. Some 20 year olds wouldn’t even know how far a marathon is but we all know men in their 70’s who run apparently effortless marathons.

You are what you are and it’s up to us all to make the most of us. That little voice in your head that says ‘I can’t do this because….’ needs challenging. If you let your age define you you might miss out on lots of fun and many challenges. I do things because I am 62 not despite. We are all more than a number. Today I am going to be ………..