Act your age….and that is???
For me, thinking can be a pretty exciting trip through my brain which tends to be filled with lots of bit and pieces of fluff I’ve collected over the years. Today, I was doing something — can’t remember what just now, probably thinking about eating a breakfast cupcake (I had cereal instead) — but as clear as clear could be I heard mom telling me to act my age. So, I got to thinking…how do you act your age?
It seems to me that if I’m my age and I’m doing something then I’m acting my age. All my life I’ve had people say either to me or about themselves — I/You can’t do that at your age. Why? If you can do it, why not? I’ve got long hair — or had, it’s growing out again from a donation to Locks of Love — but family members (female) keep telling me that at my age I should have short hair because long hair on a person my age looks silly. Why? If it’s clean and neat and I like it what’s silly about having the length of hair I feel comfortable with.
Personally, I just don’t get this thing about having to curtail activities you like because of some magic age that after or before which you’re not allowed to do this thing. Okay, I get not drinking before you’re of age and not driving before you get your license — those are laws and reasonable ones set up so that reasonable behavior can be expected. But there aren’t any laws that say after age 45 you must have short hair if you are a woman, or no white after Labor Day, or no motorcycle riding after 50, and so on. Who makes up this stuff?
I do know that I can’t do a lot of things I used to do simply because my body isn’t up to it any more. Climbing steep trails is a lot harder than it used to be (arthritis in my knees) but if I take it easy and don’t push I can usually make it to the view at the top. But, the thing is, I pretty much know my limits and I take appropriate (I think) precautions . Same with a lot of other activities — I like a lot of music that I’m told I should not like at my age — again I like it so obviously people my age do like it, or at least some do. I try to not pass judgments on others and expect the same courtesy in return.
But, the real question is where do these rules come from? Who made them up? Did the North Wind forget to blow this knowledge into my ear at the appropriate time. Is there a list? Not that I intend to follow the advice/rules, but it would be interesting to see how many of those shoulds that I’m ignoring at my age.