God must give us health, not age

Are you at peace with your age? Or, like many others, do you also feel discomfort? Do you feel threatened on your birthday when you confront your ever-increasing age number? By the way, this number has limited power. It just defines your biological age.

Today, after finishing my walk, when I was working out at the open gym (this gym is installed in the park and has no roof over it), I was pleasantly surprised to see an older man working out passionately on the gym machines.

I call him an older man as his attire, style and demeanor graced everything about his elderliness. He had an uncut white-bearded flowing with the wind. He didn’t have any ambition to color or tie it. He was not wearing a tight T-shirt and fit trousers along with the gym/walking shoes. Also, he did not bother to wear a baseball/cricket/flat/golf cap, which gym goers generally wear. He was wearing his traditional headgear, which was not very neat. He did not have even an inch of fat. By all means, he was tall, slim and fit. Oddly, he was wearing Kurta Pajama. His overall demeanor was casual and unlike a gym or fitness enthusiast. And finally, he wasn’t swaggering with the condiments of his body shapes. Nevertheless, he was using gym machines passionately, but he didn’t seem to aspire to have a perfect body to walk on the ramp like a supermodel.

I was impressed by his enthusiastic yet simple style. I looked at him, and we made eye contact. I greeted him with a good morning. He nodded back. I generally don’t see people with such an easy manner of elderliness working out passionately at the gym. So I wondered what would be his age. I told him, — you are working out so intensely; I am happy to see you. He said — thank you. I further asked — What’s your age? He said — ‘God must give us health, not age.’ His answer pleasantly surprised me. He did not feel interested to share his age. But I did not relent. I wanted to know his age as I felt impressed by his passion for fitness and simple manners. I told him — if you tell me your age, it will inspire me. I guessed he would be much older than I am. He smiled but kept mum.

I feel he was not bothered about the number that defined his biological age. He seemed satisfied with his body, happy with his simple style and peaceful with any number that defined his age. He was growing and glowing (not ageing) gracefully.

But how do you grow and glow gracefully?

“Grace commonly refers to a smooth and pleasing way of moving or a polite and thoughtful way of behaving.” Smooth, pleasing, polite and thoughtful — these beautiful words stuck with me. I reflected and realized that there are three pillars to grow and glow with grace.

1. No Temptation: — A temptation is a feeling that attracts you to do something silly or wrong. Do you feel tempted to get back your 20–30 years old version? Do you think that by exercising, medication or some implants, you can achieve your so-called youthful version back? When you don’t feel tempted to fight back with your body’s evolution, you smoothly go past the new milestones of your life, and you grow and glow with grace.

2. No Regret: — Regret is a sense of loss. You feel disappointed that you lost something valuable that you cannot recover back. Do you feel remorse that now you cannot seek your youth back? A feeling of loss mars your today’s happiness. It does not allow you to settle with your resent. You are glued to the lost past and plan for the future with the lost narrative that would never materialize.

3. Acceptance: — The essence of growing and glowing with grace is in accepting your body and its evolution. When you fall in love with your wrinkles, enjoy your semi-dark circles under your starry eyes, romance your pigmentation marks on your face, and like your body tyres, you grow and glow with grace. But how this happens? It happens when you realize that your wrinkles cannot take away the power of your smile, your pigmentation marks cannot remove the heat coming out from your pores, your eye bags cannot dim your starry eyes, and your body tyres cannot disturb your gait. You grow in your original style, and glow with your thoughts.