The Art of Staying Young

Me and dad, circa (possibly) 1994.

To be young again.

I woke up early this morning. On purpose. It’s vacation, but I wanted to watch the sunrise. First step, brew some coffee. Next, walk out onto the balcony of my beautiful girlfriend’s grandparent’s beach condo and take a peek at the soft glow of the sun shining along the horizon of the ocean.

As I sip on my coffee, patiently waiting on the caffeine to kick in, two women, each with a toddler, walk down the shoreline, hand in hand, and park their little buggy right in front of me. 

Tiny footprints in the sand. The distant, almost delicate sound of laughter coming from one of the little girls hits my ears and suddenly I am reminded of a thought, or rather, the old phrase. “To be young again.”

I watched with delight, digging for a suppressed memory of what it was like before I became a 6’5 giant. 

Winding the clock back a couple decades, the first image that comes to mind is that of a small, bleach blonde, little tike playing in a sandbox with his best friend, driving a tonka truck up and down a mound of sand musically reciting the old toy commercial, “ridin’ on mega mountain!” 

Family vacation, circa 2001. L to R, me, Alexa, Mom, Natalee, Noah.

One of my closest friends writes a blog called, The Art of Everything. A brilliant idea, as it leaves no ceiling for the amount of content that can be produced. Inspired, I have begun writing down titles “The Art of …” with ideas about what interests me and might later interest some of you.

A few months ago, my girlfriend and I decided to plan a vacation to the beach and Disney World. On Monday, we head an hour and a half east for “The Happiest Place on Earth.” 

A peculiar nickname, I thought, and then it hit me. 

When are we all (for the most part) the happiest in our lives? When we are young. At Disney, everyone, no matter their nominal age, is young again. 

Family Disney trip, circa 2008.

Keeping in line with the focus of the aforementioned blog, here are a few of the Lord’s thoughts on the young.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12

“Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.” Ecclesiastes 11:9

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” Matthew 19:14

As I imagine most parents still view their offspring as little children, so does The Father. To him, we are, like the 1984 hit song by Alphaville says, “Forever Young.”

So what does it mean to be young? 

The Oxford dictionary says it like this, “having lived or existed for only a short time or having the qualities popularly associated with young people, such as enthusiasm and optimism.”

Why is it that enthusiasm and optimism are deemed qualities of the youth? Is it because as we grow old, we become pessimistic? Is it due to the way our society tells us we must “mature” and “grow up”? Or is it simply because we forget the fact that, no matter our age, we are ALL still children of the Lord. 

While I sit here, finishing up my second cup of coffee, another family has parked in front of me, with yet another toddler. For the past ten minutes or so, this little boy has been running in circles. Back and forth. To and fro. Only stopping to dig his hole in the sand a little deeper so he can jump in and make a bigger splash when the waves fill it up. 

I can’t help but to smile. At 26 and the height of a professional basketball player, I want nothing more than to have that same energy (hurry up coffee) of this rug rat and build a sand castle, running in a circle (or two) laughing the entire time. 

With all of the recent events of the world, it would be easy to be pessimistic and apathetic about the future. There’s a worldwide pandemic. Streets of major cities are filled with angry people and civil unrest. The market is painfully uncertain. Natural disasters are still afoot, oh and we are choosing the new leader of the free world in 37 days.

Let’s rephrase that last paragraph through the lens of someone young… 

The world has been given an opportunity this year to rethink how we manage our work life and our home life. The dinner table is full again. There is not as much traffic heading to work, meaning less pollution billowing into the atmosphere. New technologies are coming out almost daily as we switch to a possible new “remote” norm. We are given the chance, now more than ever before in history, to make real, lasting change (if we do it right) in the lives of others. The economy will rise again and jobs will come back, as they always do. And disasters often are followed by blessings. 

Like my parents have told me since I was a kid, whenever there is something bad or wrong or out-of-sorts in my life, more times than not, “It’s all in your head.” 

Still practicing stoicism, I am reminded of some words from Epictetus, “If someone succeeds in provoking you, realize that your mind is complicit in the provocation.” 

Our ability to stay young starts up top, in your head. We are what we think. Think you're old? Ask Walt Disney the same question.

This next week as I play in the sand, soak up the sun, and pretend to be a kid again on all the rides in Hollywood Studios, I am challenging myself (and you) to sit back and remember how easy it was to be happy at any given moment when my footprints were no bigger than those two little girls on the beach this morning. Remember the bliss of experiencing new things, running in circles, and “ridin’ on mega mountain.” 

Act like you are young (within reason). Play like a kid. Dream like you’ll live forever. 

Be creative, fantasize, and imagine. Afterall, we were made in His likeness (Genesis 1:27) as the Creator.

DW