Chapter 4
RE-INVENT YOUR LIFE
One man I know who is older than I, has bought the “old age package.” By that I mean he has resigned himself to accept the many myths of aging, the declining memory, the belief that he is too old to learn new things, and the desire to take it easy, stay home and watch TV.
He has the belief that you should grow old gracefully, and accept the limitations of the aging mind and body. Not necessarily. Rather we should be seen as feisty oldies who are more bloody minded than going gently into the night. Here is where we can be proactive rather than reactive, and make a clear trail where we have been, and be a guide and lesson to those around us.
Recently this same friend was feeling down and being threatened with a serious ailment and asked sadly “Why me?” Then the question arises, is it his own doing because of his life style and belief system; or is it really the ravages of time? In his case I believe it is the former. Well, what should he do?
He needs to re-invent his life. But to make a change he must make a major change in his belief system. He must re-examine his life style and see where he can make some fundamental changes and believe in it. Granted it is not easy, but is it worthwhile? I should think so!
Let me tell you about another friend of mine who was the chief accountant of a company that made products for the building maintenance industry. We enjoyed many talks about his and my business and exchanged stories and adventures. His company would introduce a new product every one or two years, and time the introduction to come just as the last product began to peak out or indeed just before it peaked. In this way they kept renewing the business and maintained a fairly steady growth curve. And here is a principle that is useful to apply to many situations. We could graphically portray it as successive growth curves:
Chart 2
Growth Renewal
This renewal principle applies not only to companies which depend on the growth of new products, but to many organizations, associations and even to the individual.
It seemed clear then that my older friend must keep on renewing himself either by new experiences, new learning, or some form of new challenge. The present gets too familiar and interest in life is “inclined to decline”.
Again to quote from Tennyson's Ulysses: “Come my friends ’tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
But, you might ask, "Where do you get the energy for these new directions?" Diet, exercise and attitude. (See later Chapters.)