How to not become old
For me, a clear sign that you are an old person is when you start avoiding or preventing change. I have this belief since my early twenties when I joined the workforce and saw some very pathetic examples of co-workers that would do anything and everything to keep things the same.
By then, I had decided I would fight becoming old (of the mind) by accepting and going after change. From the simple things to the big things. From trying a different route to work every once in a while, to changing car, house, lifestyle. Just to try it.
We certainly cannot prevent becoming physically old (although research will improve our life expectancy and life quality significantly over the next decades), but we absolutely can prevent from becoming old mentally.
Are you old?
Here are a few signs:
- You park at the same parking space every morning.
- You have a routine for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- You buy the same brand of sliced bread every time.
- You want to buy a TV that will last 10 or more years.
- You wish they would make TVs today as they used to 10 years ago.
- You don’t try any new Web service because “the way I do for the last 10 years is just fine”.
- You don’t try new foods or order always the same thing at a restaurant;
- You have a 30-year mortgage at your house and you think you’ll be there for 30 years.
- You don’t travel or you don’t like to travel.
This is not a “yes” or “no” kind of thing. There is a scale and everyone is somewhere on that scale. It’s a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is someone that proactively work to avoid any change, 3 is somebody that avoid changes, 5 is someone that accept some changes, but not others, 7 is someone that accept all changes and proactively works towards some changes, and 10 is someone that has commitment issues and change is all there is.
