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Surroundings can make people feel older than they are

By Staff | Apr 28, 2013

Somewhere deep in my core, I’m starting to realize I’m getting old, and it has nothing to do with the birthday that’s a little more than a week away.

Actually, I’d forgotten that it was coming up,
until someone reminded me. Does forgetting
about one’s birthday make you old?

If not, then finding it necessary to stretch certain muscles every day, even when not exercising, must make you close to the senior citizen discount, right?

I know, you’re rolling your eyes, or flicking the picture of me repeatedly, hoping I might feel it just in the slightest.

I know, I shouldn’t complain, but it’s a shock to the system when all of a sudden you realize you’re closer – much closer – to 40 than 21.

Before you get really mad at me, know this – a 30-year-old is older than 42 percent of the population, and another 15 percent is in their 30s.

That means more than half the population is the same age as I am, or younger.

But really, I don’t physically feel older. From my perspective, I’m still the same as I was when I was closer to 21.

Well, except for the aforementioned muscle stiffness. And I can’t
seem to stay out as late as I used to. In fact, sometimes, I’d rather just stay in and watch a movie or a game.

I got a real wakeup call last weekend. For the second year in a row, members of my family and I made a trip to Pittsburgh in honor of my dad’s birthday. The idea was to spend the day doing something he’d want to do – seeing relatives and taking in a Pirates game.

The night before the game, I met up with friends from college and we decided to get dinner at one of our
old stomping grounds at Pitt. The place really hasn’t changed since I graduated nine years ago – same drinks and same menu, and the crowd
is still mostly college students.

But it wasn’t until I got up to use the bathroom, and I saw the young faces that looked back at me as I crossed the room. Everyone of them seem to be saying: “who is the old guy?” or “Aw, man, I hope this isn’t turning into that kind of place.”

I was taken aback. Like I said, I feel the same on the inside, and that hasn’t changed my perspective. To that room full of 20-somethings, though, it didn’t matter how young, or old, I felt.

I’m not dreading getting older. I like that my car insurance has plummeted in recent years. But ask me again when the gray hairs start showing up in my beard.

Joe Marchilena writes a weekly fitness column for Hampshire Hills. To find out more information
about the “90 Day Commit to Get Fit” program, call 603-673-7123 or email hhinfo@hampshirehills.com.

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