5 Ways to Stay Young at Heart

Jackson (aka Stavros), my neighbor

Have you ever been told "You need to grow up" or "Act your age"? What is the orator trying to tell you?  Be old & crumudgioned. Well I disagree with the notion that getting older necessarily means we become mellow, serious, structured and boring. 

I am surrounded by neighbors with young children and grand-children. And, as I witness these children experience life I witness Magic and Living! The kids chase each other, scream with exhilaration, carefully inspect a fallen leaf or stone, care for a ladybug, worm or rollie-pollie, and marvel at the sky filled with clouds, birds and colors. Everything is new to them. Everything is special to them. This inspired me to share some thoughts about how to stay young at heart, as Father Time works on our bodies. 

1. PLAY - How often do you play? As a child, we played all the time. Our parents would constantly tell us "stop playing around." Play is extremely important to all people at all stages of life. Play involves imagination, creativity, inspiration, movement and spontaneity, among other things. Oh yeah - IT'S FUN!!!!  We need to play more. Just Google "adult play" and check out all the articles telling us to play more. People have even researched it and published papers on it (they could use some play too, I suppose - HA HA). 

Get out with some friends and do something different. Some ideas for play could be taking a walk, playing cards, throwing a frisbee, shooting a basketball, skateboarding, looking at clouds and identifying what animals they look like, run a race, throw your dog a ball, strum a guitar or toot a trumpet. There are a limitless number of things you can do for play. Remember, it is a choice whether you want to play or not, and usually starting is the hardest part. Add more play in your life and you will feel younger at heart.

2. GROW - kids are always growing - physically and emotionally. Perhaps as we age we may stop growing physically (vertically anyway), but we need not stop growing emotionally. Staying young means continuing to constantly change. Resist stagnation. Growth is change. 

We all know how kids are in a constant state of change, as we have to buy new clothes for them all the time. They're constantly growing out of their apparel and fashions. As quickly as they grow through clothes, they also grow through developmental stages, relationships, desires, interests, activities and so on. Change is constant when we are young, and it exists in most areas of our lives. As we grow older, the amount of change we experience lessens, and at times, we prefer to avoid change. It's like we are a different species than our younger self. One of my Keynote Speeches is called "A Challenge to Change". I always explain that many times in our lives changes come along that cause challenge. We know that's going to happen, and it's usually unexpected and unwelcome. I advocate for a different paradigm, and task the audience to proactively "challenge themselves to change themselves."

IF IT DOESN'T CHALLENGE YOU, IT WILL NEVER CHANGE YOU!

We grow through change. If we challenge ourselves to constantly change, we are in fact challenging ourselves to constantly grow. Constant growth will make you young at heart. Commit to yourself that you will be a better person at the end of the day, as compared to the person you were at the beginning of the day.

3. EXPLORE - Do you remember setting off with your friends on a walk into a field, or following a creek not knowing what you would find, or what was going to happen. As kids we were pioneers, always breaking new ground - going into the unknown. For some odd reason, as we get older we tend to become conformists, and lose our pioneer spirit. If you want to keep your heart young, reclaim your pioneer spirit. Take delight in breaking stride with the herd. Set out on your own and discover, uncover and maybe go undercover.

You don't need a well defined plan, with back-up plans and safety nets. When I ran across America with my Mom as my only crew, we woke up every day and knew that something unexpected was going to happen and we would need to have fun with it, overcome it and experience it. We were explorers - every single moment of every single day. It was invigorating. If you want to truly "Live a beautiful Life", be an explorer. We were as kids, and you can choose to do it again.

4. DREAM - Have audaciously epic dreams for yourself and your future. Don't hold back or put restrictions on what you can be or what you can accomplish. As kids, we didn't see barriers to our dreams; that was what adults saw. Can you remember saying I want to ________ (fill in the blank); then having somebody else tell you all the obstacles you will have in accomplishing your dream. In order to stay young, mute the pontificators and crank up the volume of your heart. Follow your dreams relentlessly and refuse to quit.

If you have a dream for yourself, write it down and start pursuing it today, consistently. There are only 2 options for the outcome: 1. accomplish your dream, or 2. die trying. There is no quitting on your dream. We knew how to dream epic as kids, and it tends to fade as we grow older. Reclaim your dream. It is NEVER TOO LATE. Every day we wake up is a second chance for love, for righting wrongs, for doing the unimaginable. Dream fearlessly to be young at heart.

5. LAUGH - Adults do not laugh enough. We should laugh all the time! We should laugh when we wake up, when we eat, when we work, when we are romantic, when we hurt and when we are happy. Laughter is strong medicine, and it's free of charge. Recount back to your childhood, and think about the percentage of time you spent laughing. Now fast forward to the present and assess your laughter. If you're not laughing as much, choose to change.

When we laugh, our spirit is open and we are vulnerable. Purposely put yourself in that place and share laughter. If you're gifted with the ability to make another laugh, please be my friend NOW!!! I need more jokesters in my life, as I consider you my peeps. Kids laugh. The nice thing about being an adult is that we have experienced many different kinds of laughter. And, I personally enjoy belly laughter the most. The kind where you just can't stop, and get concerned you might do a little tinkle (but you really don't care 'cause it feels so good to laugh). Well, that is another way to be young at heart. Give yourself permission to laugh - it's a conscious choice. And, go out of your way to make others laugh, if you're so gifted.

CLOSING THOUGHT - I asked a wise friend today, "How do you stay young at heart?" They said, "It's a choice!" I believe they were right.....choose wisely & I hope you'll implement some of these tips to stay young at heart.

#ONWARD Jason is an expert at teaching people to transform Dreams into Reality. He has amassed a lifetime of expertise in the field as a General Manager for General Electric leading large teams, where he ran a $400 million dollar business, he was a former leader of Global Operations for a Fortune 100 company, an attorney and CEO of a non-profit that helps children with Autism. In addition to his professional experience, he is a US Paralympian, holds 15 world records in ultra-running and mountain biking, is an author, a highly sought after motivational and business speaker and is the 1st and only blind person to run across America - 3,063 miles where he averaged 51.5 miles/day for 59.5 days. For speaking and media inquiries visit www.jasonromero.net