I Turned 79 Today—and I’m Not Finished Building

Today is my 79th birthday.

That's a strange sentence to write, because I really don't feel 79.

Some time ago, I was going through airport security and asked a TSA agent whether I really needed to take my shoes off. I mentioned my age, and he looked at my driver's license.

He told me he thought I was about 50.

I was 78 at the time.

Now, I'm not going to claim that I look 50 every morning when I look in the mirror. But I do think there's something to be said for staying active.

In fact, I feel more active now in some ways than I did a year ago. I'm walking better. I swim. I lift weights. I ride my bicycle. None of those things happens without effort, and sometimes it takes quite a bit of effort.

But it's worth it.

Yesterday I wrote about the idea of building instead of simply consuming. I've been thinking that the same principle applies to ourselves.

We can keep building ourselves.

That doesn't mean pretending we're not getting older. It means continuing to use what we have. Keep the muscles working. Keep the mind working. Keep learning. Keep finding something new to do.

I've been repairing and rebuilding old laptop computers for years, so that's nothing new for me. But I'm still learning from them. Every computer seems to present a different problem, and sometimes I have to figure out something I've never dealt with before.

The bicycle has given me another challenge. Riding takes physical effort, but it also gives me somewhere to go and something to look forward to.

And then there's this blog. Writing makes me stop and think about what I'm doing and what I've learned.

Maybe that's part of staying young.

I'm not talking about trying to turn the clock backward. I'm talking about having something you're interested in doing tomorrow.

At 79, I still have things I want to learn, places I want to go, computers I want to fix, miles I want to ride, and ideas I want to explore.

Getting older takes place whether we work at it or not.

Staying active takes effort.

For me, that effort has been worth it.

I'm 79 today.

And I'm not finished building.

I found a TED talk on this topic; it should be good.

Later