When to stop is a good thing

In a world in a rush, to stop does not look good.

In terms of your career, part of your success relies on you working as much as possible and as hard as possible. If you stop at some point, people will forget about you and to resume your activities maybe is not that easy.

So don’t stop… however, how much your body, mind and soul can resist? There is a point we all break, when we cannot do anything else and, of course, we stop…

And that is the real stop everyone fears. It is the stop after which you won’t be able to do much. It is the stop that takes you into retirement, sometimes an early one, or makes you to leave whatever you were doing.

But retirement is not supposed to be like that. On the contrary, it just means a period of your life when you have more time to enjoy life or, like in the old Indian culture, you can go and dedicate yourself fully to a spiritual path. In other cultures, retired people became leaders and the wise guides of their communities.

Retirement really means to be able to go beyond the basic and general needs and be in a state which anything you do is for your own comfort or pleasure. The problem is if that stage is fruit of extreme tiredness or any other reason through which you had to stop, then you won’t take advantage of that important part of life. 

A simple solution is to stop from now and then, taking sometime free for yourself to reflect and relax, to go deep into your life and give others much of the inner treasures they have accumulated along their valuable life…. But not in the end! Right now!

You can meditate or just sit surrounded by your family and friends. You can just use the red traffic light to have a moment for yourself and think of peace, or you may go into a retreat every year and take that time to set yourself into an improvement path.

This is the type of stop that is good, very good.

Calculating your real age

Normally people after a while ask about my age. I got that part of my family where we really don't get old that fast. Add to that a vegetarian diet for more than 30 years and military service (yes, that helps!), and voilà, you have a person who will look at least 4 years younger.

There are things which are certain in everyone's lives, and one of them is that one day you will get old. And day by day you are already getting older and older.

Science has tried to prevent aging and people embrace anything that makes them to look and feel younger, trying to go against the inevitable.

What if, instead of trying to prevent your body aging, you focus your energy and prevent yourself to age... Let me explain: your mind, your capacity of decision, your good mood and creativity, those things and many more don't need to end just because your body is going that way.

Many years ago, in Santiago, Chile, I was going home. The train was not so packed, but there were no seats available when two very, very old women get on it. Even though their age was obvious, nobody tried to give them a seat, except another pregnant lady (please, don't blame me, I was very far from them...). But they refused, enjoying the ride and getting off a few stations later.

I have seen in my life very young people behaving like what we would expect old people's behavior, and the opposite too. I have seen men with three kids acting as a big teenager and a very young man starting a company with full responsibility.

Your real age will never be measured by how many grey hair you have or the movements of your body. Your real age is inside you - there you can be as young as you want.

The last of the forties

A friend of mine, about one month older than myself, posted a picture of himself tasting a cake for "the last of the forties".

Yes, with this birthday I will start to cross a moment in time that used to scare lots of people not long ago: I am 49 today, January, 12th. Next year, 4 will be replaced by 5... It is just a number, but a huge impact in life.

I know that according to many people, I should be very worried as my life is getting shortened. Birthdays are fun when you are young and full of energy; after that, they just remind you about the closeness to death.

But, as I write here, I really don't feel like that and I know the world is also changing. The world is "getting old" as many people put it, but I just say the world is changing...

First of all, people are not so much afraid of death as they used to be. In 2010, a survey in the United Kingdom shown that people feared most to BE IN DEBT. That is right... At the fourth position you can see something related to death, but not directly (crime with knife).

Second, economics show that older people more and more have all they need. If at some places in the past children had to sustain their old parents, it is not the present reality... In fact, many of them sustain their children who are going through one crisis after the other.

There is a third further point. A tradition of mine makes me wander around in the day of my birthday. So, I ended in a very interesting bookshop in Bogota, where I saw this not so exotic issue of The Economist, with a cover talking about the Age of Happiness, I think that was the title. In it, using its very complex language, The Economist shows the fact that after 50 years-old, people start to feel increasingly happy. And I think this is the key point.

The only thing to diverge in relation to that article is that it is not age as much as maturity that makes people sees happiness everywhere. Maturity enables you to be happy even though you didn't get your quota of recognition by others, or you just missed your favorite football match. And the magical thing about maturity is that you can get that anytime in your life. The funny thing about it is that it seems you never end getting mature... There is always margin to be more mature.

So, I reach this age very mature, and looking forward to increase that wonderful sense of maturity. I reach this age knowing I am much happier, healthier, more peaceful and more loved than I was ever in my life. I am aware I could be even better, but I am also aware I am much better than I've expected.

I embrace the fifties that are waiting for me a little ahead, and all that comes with it. Thank you, life, God and everyone for this wonderful opportunity. Thanks to myself for that too.