Middle Aged ???

When I heard a discussion of what is Middle Age in a radio program, I couldn’t help but to think about it as it applied to me I’m approaching 40 and was out of the office sick for a couple weeks a little about 2 months ago. The radio show threw out some ranges like 45-65, 35-50, and others (including one who said it started in the late 20s). According to the Wikipedia definition, Census considers middle age to be 35-50. In which case I’m middle aged. When the year started, I did not consider myself to be middle aged. Overall, I didn’t have aches and pains, could eat and drink as much as I wanted to, and I felt quite young at heart with some of the things I enjoy doing. I have male pattern baldness and started to get some grey hairs in my facial hair, but that was ok, I still felt young.

Then I got really sick which involved a couple hospital visits and a bulk of bedrest. For the next month (which included many medical tests) I noticed a few things. I was probably stressed out from life in general and I couldn’t eat all the spicy food as much as I did nor drink as much as I used to. It was at that point I started noticing those greyer hairs on the top of my head. I felt OLDER. I felt MIDDLE AGED if not older.

While looking for a definition of middle age and found this page with an interesting definition: “. . . middle age is that point in your life when you shift from seeing the future in terms of your potential and begin to see it in terms of your limitations . . .” The author mentions that the process is slow but everyone starts at one end and ends up at another.

I like this definition because it gives me a little bit of a challenge. I need to

• stop thinking about whether I am middle aged because that’s thinking of life in terms of limitations,


• stop thinking about the fact I shouldn’t eat the spicy foods I did almost 2 months ago. I’ve done really well finding good substitutes and monitoring the spice. Instead of having Cajun seasoning AND Cayenne Pepper, just have the Cajun seasoning is an example.


• look at eating smaller portions as eating healthier


• think of my new job as a new challenge to expand what I’ve learned in my former, very stressful job while leaving more options to vacation in the winter & spring where I could not before.


• continue to be active and thinking young. Also, do young-like activities as well.

So yes, I was sick for about 2 weeks and it made me think of some necessary changes in my life. Yes, I am approaching 40. Now that I’ve made them and am transitioning to it, I need to complete the healing process and get back to thinking young. Not only keep Portland Weird, but keep Gorillaboy weird as well!!!!