Think of Your Age as Levels

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #065 here.

Be honest. How much pressure have you put on yourself that is connected with your age?

Do you have opinions about what you have accomplished so far at the age you are now or what you should have accomplished by now?

Do you have thoughts on what you should accomplish by another age in the future?

Do you have any guilt or regret about what you have or have not done to date?

Do you have any thoughts about how you look and feel right now at the age you are versus an age in the past?

Do you have any opinions on what you hope to look and feel like at a certain age in the future?

Do you ever look at an age in the future and think, "Well, it's all downhill from here"?

I saw a twist on the concept of age recently online. The concept is this:

Consider your age as levels instead of how many years old you are.

I did a podcast episode and blog article a while back about the energy tokens in the game of life. I really like the analogy of life being like a video game — not to make fun of it and say that it doesn't matter — but more in the sense of taking ourselves a little less seriously and realizing that every day we can choose what game we play. And I don't mean to play games with other people — I mean this more in the sense of imagining going to an old-school video arcade and choosing a game to play that day. 

I fundamentally believe that we have chosen to have this human experience. We're in this human body, similar to an avatar in a video game, and while we're here, in this human avatar, we experience all kinds of adventures. Some of those adventures are fun, some are scary, some are challenging, and for many of us, there typically is an intention to go to the next, higher level.

So what if you think of your age as levels instead of years old?

This is a beautiful hack for working around the negative connotation we have around our age.

There's a lot of weight tied to our age and the concept of years old.

Thinking of us as "old" in itself can feel heavy, and I know many people who dread their birthdays, as well as many who complain about or put down their bodies because of various aging issues. And while there are some realities to that, how much do we let it affect us mentally? How much does it hold us back?

I think that many people have a mental tape running a negative loop on replay around what this means.

So if you have a positive connotation with the concept of levels — if that sounds more enticing and powerful — then consider playing with this new twist on age as levels. I believe we're supposed to be playing more in our lives. I believe we're supposed to be having more fun, and experiencing more joy, and a big part of our journey is to sort out ways to do that.

If I apply this levels concept to my own life, then I'm at level 47 right now, and in a couple of months, I'll be at level 48. It honestly lights me up to think of it this way!

Try it out yourself. And if you hear a friend put down their age or the fact that they're having a birthday, share this idea with them.

“Aging is just another word for living.” 

– Cindy Joseph

🎧 👉 Prefer audio? You can also listen to me share about this in podcast episode #065 here.