Friday with Heidi: How old are you?

Mr Strickers and I are exactly 2 weeks apart on birthdays. As such it’s his big day today – and I mean BIG day.

He’s not one for publicly sharing, but he won’t mind me telling you that he’s 60 today.

Sixty.

It surprises everyone who knows him when they find out his age. There’s 12 years between us and it’s not unusual, sadly, that people think he’s the same age that I am.

He’s a big kid at heart. Finds fun in the most sombre of situations and makes himself laugh a lot. Similarly like a kid, when he’s frustrated or cross about something he blows up then moves on and is over it. I’ve got so much to learn!

He set off yesterday on a fabulous 3 week trip on his motorbike touring France with a mate. It’s been a dream of his for a while to do some touring and this seemed a perfect opportunity. Not something my Granddad at 60 would have done, I remember going to his retirement dinner and thinking that he was O.L.D.

So what is ‘age’? Is it your chronological age or something else?

On my funky body composition scales I can tell you what your metabolic age is. This is the age that your body presents like, the average age that people with a similar body fat percentage, bone density and metabolic rate have compared to you. I’ve had to turn the function off, it upset too many people (true fact!)

I also have an internal age measurer (technical term) that uses your pulse to measure what your cardiovascular age is. Measuring your aortic pulse wave velocity (AoPWV) is a good measure for markers of heart health, brain health, and risk of death from all causes. Mr Strickers was in his 30s and mine was 27. You want it to be younger than you.

But what about how you think about yourself and how you perceive your future?

I have seen first hand how having a positive attitude towards age and ageing can influence your mindset. I had a client for several years who was 90 when I met her. She had a great attitude towards life and I remember her showing me a black bamboo plant one day – trouble was, it was green. When I asked her about the name she told me that it turns black in it’s third year. She was 93 at the time and never did see it turn black, but buying it, planting it and thinking she would kept her going.

My Dad too has told me and my sister on more than one occasion that he plans on living to 120! If this is the case I’ll be well into my nineties by then, I wonder who will be looking after who?!

So do you think you’re young at 60 or are you feeling old at 45?

Do you say things like ‘it’s my age‘ or ‘I’m too old for that‘?

I have a little personal rule that I won’t let someone refer to their age in a negative way as I really do believe it’s all in our bonce. There’s usually a way to get better, feel better, eat better, move more, get stronger, richer, happier, travel more, go back to school, fall in love. It’s what you make of it.

I found this article on fantastic things older people have achieved.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/youre-never-old-people-who-4050987

I’ll leave you with a little parting thought this week.

How are you projecting yourself into the world? As someone who’s struggling with and talking about the ravages of time or choosing and embracing youth and health instead?

Be young, be spirited and have a great weekend!

One of the most popular recipes that we have on our website is for my homemade granola. I get asked time and again for the link, so I thought I’d share it with all of you this week.

Sunday Wake Up! camp runs each week at 9am on the Bearwood Recreation Ground in Winnersh (RG41 5DU). It’s open to all and we’d love to see you there. Our members have it included as one of their camp options and non-members can attend on a pay-as-you-go basis for £7.00 per person. All you need to do is bring a mat, some old gloves to protect your hands and a bottle of water. A great way to start your Sunday!