poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2009-09-26 09:09 am

Pep Talk

We've all lived many times before, but- as my friend [personal profile] sunfell points out- most of those lives will have been short- some very short indeed. In any era but the present- and then only in developed nations- it has been a real achievement for a body (especially a female body) to make it to adulthood- and a rare one for it to win through to old age. We'll have had all sorts of experiences over the centuries- of war, peace, wealth, poverty, achievement, failure-  but old age won't be one we'll have gone through very often. It's a privilege, a prize- and we owe it to our earlier selves- who wanted it but hardly ever got it- to tackle it in a positive spirit, to savour it, to get everything out of it we can.  

[identity profile] idahoswede.livejournal.com 2009-09-26 09:19 am (UTC)(link)
I am doing my very best, my darling, I am doing my very best.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
That's as much as any of us can do. :)

[identity profile] pondhopper.livejournal.com 2009-09-26 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I like this very much and am giving myself much the same sort of pep talks these days. I have to say I am rather pleased at how much more vital I am these days than I was 20 years ago. And that fact has caught me by surprise!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I find the temptation to just give in and be a doddering old fool a very powerful one. :)

[identity profile] pondhopper.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 09:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I cannot imagine you as doddering and much less an old fool.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-28 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
That's kind of you- but the aches and pains mount up- and I was always forgetful and now I'm more so...

[identity profile] veronica-milvus.livejournal.com 2009-09-26 02:18 pm (UTC)(link)
And can we find out who we were before? I think I was related to Boudicca.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes indeed we can- through hypnotic regression. Not everyone believes in it, of course, but I do.

[identity profile] daisytells.livejournal.com 2009-09-26 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I like that attitude, but then you are still very young. At my age I have decided to live out my next thirty years with GUSTO! I will live, love, laugh and be happy, and experience new things. I resolve to stay active even when the old body keeps trying to make me get into that old rocking chair and stay there.
So, old friend, hold that thought.

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
That's an excellent resolution.

Old age can be grim. We need to do our utmost to hold back the shadows.

[identity profile] silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com 2009-09-26 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
How very true! I hadn't looked at growing old in that way before, but I like it!

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2009-09-27 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I spend a lot of my time thinking up reasons to feel positive about growing old. :)