Don't Become a Photograph

I was thinking about something the other day.

There are photographs of us from twenty or thirty years ago that barely feel like us anymore.

Different face.

Different body.

Different life.

You look at that man and remember things the photograph can't possibly show.

What he worried about.

What he wanted.

Who he loved.

What he thought his life would become.

And here's the strange part.

One day, somebody could look at a photograph of you today exactly the same way.

That thought gets my attention.

Because we're very good at living as though the man we are right now is permanent.

He isn't.

None of us gets that deal.

But I think there's a massive difference between accepting that time moves forward...

and helping it take things it hasn't earned yet.

Your strength.

Your independence.

Your curiosity.

Your willingness to get involved.

Your ability to walk into a room and bring some bloody life with you.

Those things don't have an expiration date stamped underneath them.

And I'm becoming increasingly protective of mine.

Not because I'm trying to cling to youth.

I don't want to be 25 again.

I was there.

I've seen the movie.

I'm interested in what happens next.

What kind of man can I build with everything I know now?

How strong can I remain?

How capable?

How useful?

How much life can I still squeeze out of this body before somebody eventually turns the lights off?

Those questions excite me far more than looking backwards ever could.

Because getting older gives you something youth never had.

Perspective.

You finally understand how quickly twenty years can disappear.

And that makes today incredibly valuable.

There's still time to build something.

Still time to become stronger.

Still time to surprise yourself.

Still time to walk into the next decade carrying more capability than anyone expected you to have.

That's the comeback nobody talks about.

Not becoming the man you were.

Becoming a man the younger version of you would never have known was possible.

So keep the old photographs.

Smile at them.

Remember the stories.

But don't spend too long staring backwards.

There's another photograph waiting to be taken years from now.

And the man standing in it...

is being built today.

Make him someone you're proud to meet.

— Psymon

“The 1-Hour Breakthrough Call for Men Over 50”