The Tradeoff of Age

I was tidying up my digital desktop when I found videos from my old days, 13 years ago to be exact. I was explaining to my friend how I won a phone, and said he was the umpteenth person I had to relate the story, so he jokingly recorded me explaining it. The video still exists now, apparently.

Looking at the video, I realised that I was so young then, and I’ll never be that young again. But there was also something different to the way I talked, where it was more punctured with phrases that I wouldn’t use, even among friends, and tones that are quite different that I use nowadays. My wife agreed too, and she said I sounded like my nephew who recently visited, who is almost exactly 13 years younger than me. Is it a coincidence or is men that age talked in a specific manner?

There’s also the change in appearance where I had younger skin but I also lack the confidence that I have now (not that I have the greatest charisma). There’s a tradeoff of youth that is replaced by the gain in maturity. I only hope that the gain is positive and more than offset the tradeoffs, and continue to do so. Here’s to growing wiser over the years.

Thank you for reading.