Aging and Adventure: Good News for the Not-So-Young

This is for anyone who’s watched 20-somethings tear around with all their boundless energy, fearless daring, indomitable confidence … and felt a bit old or tired. Or for anyone who’s wondered, after learning some hard lessons, struggling to balance competing needs and life obligations, and finding a few unwanted aches in their joints, if perhaps they’ve passed the point of having the fire or ability to pursue a dream, start a business, or take on some challenging physical adventure.
To all of you (or, more accurately, “us”) I offer Ian Frazier’s wonderful take on why, even in physical adventure pursuits, old guys rule (from the April 2009 issue of Outside magazine). You will laugh out loud, and walk away with a big smile on your face. Even if you can’t run 10 six-minute (or 10-minute) miles in a row anymore.
To Ian’s bold assertions, I would only add the words of a business associate of mine—a successful entrepreneur and CEO, who says the same truths apply in the entrepreneurial world. “Twenty-eight year olds have a tremendous amount of energy and enthusiasm,” he says. “They go a million miles an hour on a project … until they hit the first immovable object. Then they’re likely to drop that idea and go pursue something else. A 48-year-old doesn’t have that intense energy. But faced with an immovable obstacle, they’re far more likely to hang in there and think their way around, over, under, or through it, and persevere through the hard times to make things work.”