The Age Paradox

I guess they call it over-the-hill because once we pass the summit; life accelerates at a startling rate. We have more to do and less time to do it. Kids. Careers. Parents. Houses. Assets. Building Assets. At mid-life, it is all in play. No doubt, the heaviest lifting happens when we are young – trying to figure out what we like – and perhaps equally important, what we can do that might actually add value to the world around us. But by the top of the mountain, we have learned skills and generally figured out how to survive. Then, the ride really begins.

Yet the journey from that point on is rife with paradox. Many of us have accumulated more friends, family and stuff than we could ever
find time to enjoy. We are routinely invited to the banquet of life (and can afford to indulge in it), yet our diets won’t allow for the calories. We have settled into a world of our own making even as we are trapped by the very dominion of that we have wrought. Even as we become more efficient and thoughtful in how we expend our energy, we don’t have as much of it left to spend. Perhaps it is true that youth is wasted on the young. Or perhaps it is the intentional nature of things. If we started life devoid of both wisdom and exuberance, few of us would ever make it long enough to reach the mid-point. Is it possible that we need the vigor of our early lives to survive the years on the path to the wisdom of adulthood? Now that I am looking at life on the down-side of the over-the-hill equation, I wonder what the next half holds. Regardless, I intend to enjoy the ride.

This column was published on Tuesday, January 17, 2012 in the Current in Carmel, Current in Westfield, Current in Fishers and Current in Noblesville - http://youarecurrent.com/