It is not the young man who should be considered fortunate but the old man who has lived well, because the young man in his prime wanders much by chance, vacillating in his beliefs, whilst the old man has docked in the harbour, having safeguarded his true happiness.
Epicurus
I wonder at times what old age will look like for me. Nature willing, I’ll be healthy for my age, still be able to move, and able to think.
I’ll be living out a philosophy as a way of life. My wife and I will see our children and grandchildren regularly. There will be lots of coffee catchups with family and friends. We’ll still walk daily around our neighbourhood or the shops, although at a much slower pace. We’ve build ourselves a loving community.
There’s a common description of retirement that I have in my mind, based on conversations and today’s culture. It’s about living in quieter and older cities. Where the roads have paths will small cracks in them. The houses have character. You’ll hear a horse drawn carriage in the distance. Cafe’s fill the streets, all with a unique bean and atmosphere. People walk everywhere, living unhurried.
I think about our current city. Heading to our local cafe, taking our time, laughing with others. The hustle and bustle of city life is still there. But we are unhurried. We can bring our own level of pace to where we are. We don’t need to change our city. Instead, we can change.
How?
We’ll have docked in our harbour. Content and fulfilled with the journey to get there.
Part of old age is living unhurried. Of taking the time that is needed to develop deep friendships. Time for deeper thinking. For calm and reflective appreciation. Time to distill and share our wisdom. Accept and take on the duties and responsibilities of older age.
To do this, we must give up our youth. Move into our next stage of life.
Give up the travels. The rush. Our big goals. The vacillation in our beliefs.
The absence of duties.
Wandering.
This is not all that youth is. It has many different, important, and wonderful phases of life. Youth is finding ourselves. It’s making something of ourselves. Getting married. Having children. Raising a family. Building and creating. Carrying out the duties and responsibilities of that stage of life.
So we don’t want to rush old age. But we also shouldn’t avoid it. Or try and escape it.
It will come.
And we should be ready for it and accept the uniqueness that this stage of life will provide. It shouldn’t be something we fear.
This brings us to a central question. When should we dock?
When we are ready for a content, and unhurried, old age.
It’s too early for me to dock. I’ll need to remember. Then resist the urge to maintain youth so I can experience old age later.
Experiencing old age is a choice I hope we decide to make. It would be a great part of life to experience, rather than choosing to skip it and head straight to the grave.