Step 28 – What You Can Do At Your Age?

The answer is – everything. No matter how old you are. And people just don’t get it. It’s really difficult for me to listen to the statements like that: “I can’t suddenly start doing that! I’m too old for that!”. I just don’t want to be around those people anymore. What does it mean that you’re “too old” for something…? You can walk, you can see, your body is fine, your brain is fine, so… where is the problem? 

The problem is in your head. If you tell yourself that you’re “too old” for something, you will really think that you are. Your brain will remember the information you sent it, and the next time you’d think about the thing you are supposed “too old” for, your brain will dismiss it right away! The truth is: you’re not too old, you’re just too lazy. You prefer to keep telling this story to yourself to feel better and to get absolution. “I always wanted to start playing tennis, but I’m 35 now, so come on, I should have started as a kid”, “I always wanted to cook, but nowadays these 7-year-old kids have their YouTube cooking channels, so maybe I shouldn’t even bother”, “I always wanted to learn how to do the tango but it’s too late, I’m 50 and I would just look stupid”.

Sounds familiar…? I can write down hundreds of sentences like that. We all feel too comfortable and too scared to chase our dreams. We act as if dreams had expiration dates; we act like the only time to fulfill our dreams is in our 20s. WTF? How about the rest of your life? So if you get to be 80, that means that you won’t learn any new things in around 50 years. When you’re 30 –  is the game suddenly over? You’re stupid if you think like that. Yes, I just called you stupid, because this is what I really think. So when you’re 30, you should just settle down and stay at home? Will you simply stop trying out new things? Will you stop traveling, getting new skills, exploring?

If so, maybe you’d better jump into your grave right away, since there really is no point? Every month, every week, every day you can learn a new thing. I have a surprise for you: you can even start today! No matter what your date of birth is. I will be 35 this summer and exactly this summer I finally make my dream come true – I’ll start to learn surfing. This has been my dream for many years now. Am I too old? Are you crazy? Of course, I’m not. The next step for me will be probably scuba diving, or diving, or something just as exotic as that. Why not? Or maybe I’d go to Argentina to learn how to tango? Who knows? Why limit oneself? Why do you put a tag with an expiration date on your dreams and desires? Who told you that you can’t do anything? Whoever it was, don’t let them get to you.

Write down what you want to do, what’s your dream and try to figure out the way to get it. Surfing in NY and surfing in Hawaii is on the top of my list of 100 dreams that I wrote about (it’s number 1 and number 2). I wanted to surf since I came to NY, which will be four years this June. It took me four years to get to the point that I can finally do it. Those four you years were not easy, but I did it. Sometimes it takes a bit longer, but if you really want it, you will get it. I just can’t wait for summer to come! It’ll be the best summer of my life! But it didn’t happen like that, I always believed I’d do it and I kept telling myself: It’s coming. But sitting on your couch and saying “I’m too old to do that” will not help you at all, I’m afraid. Have some respect for yourself and for your abilities – you own it to yourself. Leave underestimating yourself to others – you are better off not doing that at all.

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