Life As We Age
As we age during this journey of life, we go through situations and circumstances that mold us. The cumulative impact of our experiences informs the evolution of our personalities and mindset in defining who we become. Whilst our successes over the years enhance our morale adding color, purpose, and meaning, the disappointments and traumas suffered to act as occasional dampers – yet we keep going.
No matter what life throws at us as we age, we should bolster our resilience by seeking to be productive and flourish like the palm tree. The palm tree is very resourceful at every stage. It weathers the storm, stays strong throughout its life span of 100 years.
The palm tree is useful at every stage. It produces oil, wine, coconut, dates, and much more. It is used for basket weaving, doormats, brooms, and dyes. The palm is royal and used for aesthetic designs in homes, hotels, events, gardens, and parks. Even when the palm tree is felled, it produces a delicacy that is quite popular called the palm worm. It is possible to be resourceful at every stage of our lives, regardless of our circumstances.
Nature has a way of giving us pointers about how to maximize our abilities at every stage in life, when to speed up and when to slow down. We should not limit ourselves by setting stereotypes or narratives such as retirement or age-appropriate activities. Retirement should be brought on by nature while retooling might just be a better way to approach our twilight years. To this end, I recommend that retooling should replace retirement in our lexicon
Our declaration is to continue to flourish like the palm tree as we age.
Written by: Bunmi Sodade
