Getting old

As today is my 31th birthday, naturally, I thought a bit about, well, what everyone (or close to that) thinks about in their birthday (at least after leaving adolescence). I wrote a little about it in my personal blog (in Portuguese), and there’s a bit I want to translate, extend and say here.

A lot of people say something like this: “getting old isn’t really a question of age, it’s about how old you think you are; if you believe you are young, you are young, and so on”.

I believe they’re only half right - and possibly wrong about the fundamental part. It’s not a question of belief, but of attitude.

Being young, to me - the best and most important part about being young - is this: keeping an open mind. Never believing you “know enough”. Never fearing having to learn something new, either because “it’s too much work” or because “you may not be able to”.

Being young is being curious - curious like a child, who wants to explore the world because it’s full of magical, wonderful things. Being young is never losing that child completely, independently of the life you lead and the responsibilities you have.

Being young is never being set in your ways, never believing the absurdity of “it must be done this way, because that’s the way it’s always been done”.

Being young is never refusing to consider new things, new experiences, because “I already know I won’t like it”.

Being young is being able to realize you were wrong about something all along, and subsequently being able to change your views, your knowledge about it, instead of waiting for reality to “fix” itself to conform to your beliefs (as if that ever happened…)

Being young is still being capable of playing, of having fun - both alone and with other people.

And it’s great to be, and feel, young at 31.