I'm too sexy for my age!

Age is a mindset. And I can almost hear you yell at me and grumble about the meaninglessness of that statement. All I have to say is fine then, you can go on to live thinking that with every year that passes by, your bones are getting weaker, and that your system is going to give way soon. You can go on to sulk at every strand of white hair that you find on your head. You can keep increasing the length of that list of things that you should stop doing because you are not young anymore. You can also continue to look at your birthday as a sad day instead of a happy one. Go on. Let your age bring you down!

But why? Why would you do that? What’s in the number anyway? You could be 15 or 50 and still be the same person. Not that I know what it is like when you are 50 but I strongly believe you can be the same person by spirit, IF you come to terms with the fact that age is only a mindset. You are only as old as you think you are.

Being at the early 20’s stage of my life I am often appalled by statements like, ‘Oh God, we’re getting old’, ‘I don’t think that suits me anymore..too old for it’, ‘Gone are those days when we could just chill’, ‘From now on I only want to shop for things that fit in to my working-woman schedule’… Stop it. For starters, stop saying such things. The more you say these things, the more they start to feel like the truth. Stop dwelling on the thought that you are getting older because by doing so you are spreading negative energy to yourself and to the people around you. People around you will start treating you like an old person and even worse, you will start feeling way older than what you actually are.

Age should motivate you to achieve your dreams and not be constant reminders of how little time you have left. At the risk of sounding cliché I’m going to say that there is no age limit to anything. Sometimes things need to be put as simply as that. You can be whatever you want to be whenever you want. If you are sticking by something now just coz of certain priorities, don’t worry. Who said this is it? You have your whole life in front of you to do whatever else you have planned out.

So unleash yourself from age barriers and bring on the youthfulness. Raise the bar of things-you-can-do-when-you-are-22. Let people look at you and wonder how old you are because you are so passionately not ‘acting’ your age. And my last, most favourite advice, Laugh. Your body does not know if you are faking it or not.. and it helps you live longer.

It's a give and take world, Senior!

Mother, Father, Teacher- thats the model of respect we've been taught to follow. From the time we were kids we've always been told to respect our elders. Not wrong. Atleast, not fully. Older people do deserve respect, for they are older than us...they have probably seen more of life than we have. They are wiser and hence we must try our best to respect what they tell us, and respect them.

But I think it is time we stop associating respect with age; and treat them as independent variables.

Can you blame me for not feeling the slightest feeling of respect for a teacher who is being unresonably cruel? Or a teacher who is so condascending that she/he constantly offends me? Or an old man who letches? Or an elderly woman who fights her way into the train, pulling other women's hair and yelling at everyone around her? Is such juvenile behaviour actually worth any respect?

Older people too behave in disrespectful ways. Wisdom does not necessarily manifest itself well in all older people. And just being young does not deny us the freedom to stand up for ourselves.

So the next time, an older person rolls her eyes, after doing something that does not deserve any respect, and says this-'Where is your respect? I'm older than you'...tell her that you give and take respect. It has nothing to do with being older or younger. I'll respect you if you respect me. Likewise, you only need to give me respect if I respect you.

Age does not really determine anything. Whether we are old or young, we are all human beings and have the right to be treated with respect.