Have you ever known someone from years ago and then see them after so many years apart and wonder, “How do they seem to stay so young looking?” I know a number of people who would fit into that category. I was showing a home today where there was an elderly woman living whom I understand is over 90 years old. She is loosing her eyesight but for her age she was so terribly alert as well as witty. She moved more quickly than someone at least 20 years her junior. I could have stood and listed to her telling stories for hours.
Endless studies have been done on aging over the years in an attempt to discover in a scientific fashion, what it is that keeps people more youthful in mind and body. Some say it’s genetic, others say it’s lifestyle, and others consider the environment to be the deciding factor. Indeed there are external forces that can cause pre-mature aging such as over-exposure to the sun as well as prolonged stress. But when you set aside those two, you still find people who definitely show their age and then some.
I have known a particular woman for at least 20 years or more and each time I see her, she seems more and more aged in both mind and body. When I first met her, she seemed a chronic worrier and complainer. We couldn’t find things to talk about without her taking the conversation to the dark side. Her health worries were always a topic of conversation. I couldn’t help but think at times she was wishing herself ill. The last time I saw her, I almost didn’t recognize her because she was carrying herself as though she were yet far older than she is. She has a daughter who lives with her that seems to be following her footsteps in the aging process. I’m sorry to say, I would nearly always feel as though I were metaphysically drained after being around her and her daughter for a very long period of time.
What shocks me at times is when people who are at least a decade younger than me talking about purchasing a home that has no steps. I don’t hesitate to tell them that the more they look for their old age, the more likely it will arrive. One of my dear friends called yesterday and we happened on the subject of growing old. He said, “I’ll likely work until I’m 70 and then retire and get my real estate license and start selling homes for you.” I laughed and said, “Be careful for what you wish as it may come true.” The interesting thing about him is that he has always had an up-beat frame of mind and keeps himself fit in both his mind and body.
Perhaps the real fountain of youth is simply attitude.
