Introduction
Mother nature and the life paths we take, or are dictated to us by circumstances, always starts with Birth and ends with Death or Passing Away the more acceptable term these days. We, like all living things on Earth never know when it is our turn to Pass Away. When we do, there are so many theories and religions that try to give us guidance and hope that there maybe an after life to make us less concerned about Passing Away. The problem is that we don’t really know what life on Earth actually is, from the moment we are conceived. Out of the billions of people on this earth, the differences in life style and living conditions are so diverse, we need to ask, why is life so good for some and so bad for others? I am one of the very lucky ones that have had a very good life and still around at the age of 85 years old. As the beautiful song ‘The Older I Get’ written and sung by Alan Jackson first verse says:
Growing Old
What do we mean by ‘Growing Old’? In many cases it starts with a State of Mind based upon ‘Health’, ‘Circumstances’, ‘Relationships’ and ‘Confidence in Ones Self and Abilities’. One thing that it does not depend upon is the ‘Age Number’ as each Individual is different at a specific ‘Age Number’. What we mean by Age Number is that we have lived on this Earth for a number of years after our Birth and nothing more. Each of us have a different ‘Age Number’ that we start to think ‘I’m ‘Growing Old’. Without going into personal details, I did not start to think I was ‘Growing Old’ until 2023 when I was 82 years old, 2 years after after being forced to retire and closing my company in 2021 after 33 years due to COVID 19. In my case it was ‘Circumstances’ but if there was no COVID19, I may have still been working today.
Combating Growing Old
During my life I have always been active and had occupations that needed my brain to learn complex information including being inventive and creative from Technical College, being in Royal Air Force and starting and running my own Multimedia Aviation Technical Training Systems Company. Therefore, after retirement it was important to be as active as I could and most importantly keep my brain active. The following are some of the ways of trying to combat that ‘Growing Old’ feeling.
- Starting my own Website, astra283.com with WordPress.com in January 2023 and creating all types of articles including this one and 55 others the latest published this month May 2026. This keeps my brain active, researching and writing about different subjects, although very few people read them it is extremely important to me in my quest to remain young at heart.
- Keeping active at home supporting my darling and courageous wife and darling daughter, who are much younger than me but are both very caring ensuring I am safe and happy. They are also very important to me as I am so lucky to have a very happy home life, that many do not have.
- I am still able to Drive my car which is 20 years old but gives me a great deal of pleasure and independent mobility. I started to drive at the age of 17, in 1958 almost 70 years ago. In 2027 next year, if I am still healthy I will try to renew my Driving Licence as driving is very important keeping your awareness active.
- Although I have Arthritis in one of my knees which at times can be very painful I try to join my long time friends to walk in the park on a Sunday morning and then have Breakfast, which we have been doing for the last 15 years.
- Last but not least being able to go out at least once a week for a few beers, meeting our group and other friends and Karaoke singing, which I really enjoy as it really does help keeping my lungs healthy. Having a group of special friends and meeting them is very important, as its something to look forward to every week and a sense of purpose, either on a Sunday or during the week. Many of these friends all stemmed from the days I used to play Badminton with them for many years until I was 79 years old.
Conclusion
As the beautiful song ‘The Older I Get’ written and sung by Alan Jackson last verse says:
