Thinking about my last post got me thinking about myself. I'm getting older as fast as they are, even though it seems like it happens to them overnight - probably because there comes a point where creative makeup can't hide age anymore. I was in the shower (remember: this is where the great ideas strike) thinking about what a pain certain activities are and wondering if I was "over the hill". Then it occurred to me that this is a lousy metaphor for life.
"Over the hill" implies that those of us past our "peak" are the downward slope. Going downhill is supposed to be easier, but anyone who has heard the sound their own knees make when bending down knows that this is not the case. Everything becomes more difficult with age, not easier. A better metaphor would be a valley. Youth may seem difficult at the time, but as anyone who is on the other side of the valley and working their way up can tell you, it really is much easier to go down. Most of the problems youth have comes from going too fast - literally and figuratively - and the downhill only help them to accelerate.
Pushing up the other side of the valley isn't easy. Perhaps that's why a lot of men (and women) make the errant decision to try to coast back into the valley in the form of a midlife crisis. But as anyone who has gone to a high school reunion can tell you: "you can never go back." Backward steps only delay or derail the accomplishments in your life and you'll have to climb it again eventually.
So here is a salute to all those doing the uphill climb! Onward and upward to the summit!
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