Email: Giving 100% [Ka]

I think people's uniqueness comes out when they are doing their best work -- at a time or season in their lives when they are maximally motivated, strong, skilled and experienced. The rest of the time we try to match (or exceed) our own highwater marks. I often say: It's a tough day when having a cup of coffee is your best idea of the day!

I used to feel (and still do in many ways) that time is our challenger, the sole competitor besides ourselves that we with our skills and dreams are racing against. As we get older though, I think we make more accommodations to the notion that (as you say) "time is on our side" or "there will always be time" -- and I don't think it's the gravity that's talking here.

I was discussing with CR last night about why we felt more productive (in the broad picture) when we were younger yet less so when we are older. I'm still not sure but I suspect we had greater focus and fewer responsibilities in our college and salad days, yet 10 to 100 times more responsibilities (and serious ones) as we mature.

The question is, at what point do we realize our need to simplify and streamline our involvements in order to remain effective -- and at what point do we begin the long slow downsizing of concerns that leads to twilight? For many people, retirement marks that dividing line; but I believe the mind can stay active for its own reasons, and doesn't need external ones (like a job or a spouse) to maintain or surrender its focus.

It's not love or kids or a job that keeps us young, so much as we choose to remain young at heart and in mind in the first place; that is what we then bring to the table of our responsibilities and commitments. We just need to remember that the table can only hold so much, and that a balanced diet is healthier than being a glutton for our own punishment.