I will never forget the moment when I realized I was no longer the young one sitting at the conference table.
I had always been the youngest. And I was used to it. I’d even go as far as saying I liked being the youngest.
But one day, as I was sitting at said conference table, I looked around and realized not only was I not the youngest, but the oldest! When did that happen??
And then I experienced it again; this time at a client’s conference table. This time, I took a good look around the room. I really looked at the faces. There were a lot of new people. And they are so young!
Could it be that much time had elapsed?
Not possible.
And once again, I went into denial. (It’s a pretty nice place, if you haven’t been there).
Fast forward to 2024. I made the decision to attend a business conference in San Francisco. Sounded easy enough…..I had attended dozens of these over the course of my career.
What made this trip a bit different was it was the first conference since Covid. It had been 6 years since I had been in this environment.
I thought, no problem. Easy peezy.
I arrived with plenty of time to check in to the hotel, dress and get down to the opening reception. I was a little uncertain about what to wear. In the “olden days” of pre-Covid, I dressed up a bit. Skirt, dress or slacks/heels. But now, heels were a definite No. My feet just can’t deal with them any more. It’s so bad….my feet have officially gone on strike against heels. (And let’s just throw in bras here too….but I digress).
I decide on black pants, flats and a pretty green short sleeved blouse.
People have arrived wearing everything under the sun. I see women in nice dresses, but many in tennis shoes and jeans. Actually upon further inspection, tennis shoes were everywhere. No matter what the attire, tennis shoes were having a moment.
I guess I missed that memo. (Evidence #1 of being an old person.)
I grab a drink and meet up with a couple former colleagues that I knew were attending the conference. (Also not in tennis shoes). It feels good to be with people I know. We chat about the good ole days when we worked together at Warner Bros. and caught up with what each of us were doing now.
The room is filling up fast and so the room temperature is rising. I’m at the age now where a warm room is not my friend. (Did this even happen before?) In fact, I can honestly say that I can not stand being uncomfortably warm. I’d rather be standing in the snow and freezing than feel hot.
It’s not cooling down.
I’m starting to sweat. Thank goodness the lights are low, so it’s not that noticeable.
I try to ignore it. The airflow will happen any time now so I don’t need to think about it.
I’m ignoring it and not thinking about it. The sweat is now dripping down my back and my hairline is feeling wet.
Ignoring….
”Hello! Where are you all from?” I hear from my left.
I turn to see this beautiful young woman dressed to the nines and not a drip of sweat or even a glisten anywhere on her.
I feel like a troll. Seriously, a real live troll.
She is the Chief Revenue Officer of the company hosting the conference. She looks like she is about 15-20 years younger than me.
The CRO is 15 years younger? (Evidence #2 that I’m an old person).
Wait one minute. That can not be.
And yet it is. She is professional, likable, young, thin, and sweat free.
And I’m, well….a sweaty troll.
Actually, a middle aged, sweaty troll. When did this happen?
The rest of the conference was wonderful. It was inspiring, thoughtful, and I felt part of a movement to help improve the mindset of the world.
But the realization that I was all of a sudden the old person in the room was startling. And it has stuck with me ever since I got back home.
I don’t feel old! Inside I feel exactly like I did 15 years ago!
But time has gone by. And with each year, more younger professionals enter the workforce and make the climb up. Yea for them, but where does that leave us older people? Does it mean we no longer have a place in the working world? That we no longer matter? Or worse, that we are becoming invisible?
Personally, I have no interest in retiring. But if it is in your near future, awesome. For those who want or need to work more, what do we do?
For someone who has been obsessive about this topic for about 6 months now, I’ll tell you: Keep Going.
Yes, you are older.
But you are also wiser.
You are more sure of yourself.
You like who you are and it shows.
You are smart, capable, and knowledgeable.
You realize that life is not all about the climb up.
You no longer feel the need to battle. You’ve already won!
You know now that service is what brings happiness and joy.
And you are much more interested in building relationships, learning, teaching, and living in the moment.
Because life is happening in those moments.
We can choose to be angry, shocked, frustrated, fearful, small, or silent. Or, we can love who we are, appreciate the gifts and talents we bring to the table and enjoy the ride.
And now that we’re older, we don’t need to stress. We get to show up each day and have fun. To teach others. To learn new ways of doing things. To listen deeply. And to give and serve. Because we finally know better.
Age is just a number, they say.
Oprah said that it is up to us to decide what to think about that number. (And who’s to argue with Oprah??!)
No more comparisons. No more living in the past.
Let’s live in the now. Be right here. Love yourself (even when you’re sweating) and Thrive.
You can Emerge Positive!
Positively,
Deanne
