My Experience At Age 60

After my last post on my friend’s 60th birthday—Preserving The Legacy and A Duck In The Pond—Dr. Charles Apoki At 59, I made some reflections of my own experiences at this time.

Lessons of Life

1. The aging process, even though it starts gradually from 50, increases more rapidly from about 58 years of age even though your mind is still very young. In fact, I have a fixed mental image of when I was 40 in my mind; it is when I see my granddaughter that I realize that am a grandfather.

2. One thing that reminds you of your age is when you see those you took care of as youths or children becoming mothers and fathers. One of them recently invited me to preach in a program and I realized that a lot of bridges have passed over the water.

3. Another issue is your looks. I suddenly realized the degree of graying of my hair has increased. Thank God my father was not bald headed. My wife is so concerned about my grey hair such that she wants me to always maintain a low cut. She is so worried when my hair is not cut. I wonder if she is in denial that we are aging. Just imagine how much our women spend to cover grey hair with wigs and attachments; that is an attempt to cover up the aging process.

My sympathy is more for the women. I suddenly noticed the wrinkles on my face and how my breasts started looking like those of a female. I noticed how much effort women of my age bracket put in to cover up the aging process.

4. My mind is more productive now. I can analyse issues with greater insight from experience, reflection, and revelation. In fact, my predictive ability is close to being prophetic. It is a mixture of observation, reflection, and analysis of phenomena and events.

You come to realize that things are not as simple and straightforward as you thought. When I was younger, I used to think that for every child with issues, the parents must have failed. However, I have come to realize that you can put in all efforts to be the best parents, but a child can make his/ her own choices.

Nowadays I blame the adult offspring not the parents. Joseph chose to be different from his brethren.

5. At 60 years, you re-evaluate doctrines and practices of your denomination and the church in general. If your mind is still working, you wonder how you even believed some of the things that religion taught you. If you are independent-minded and still receive insight from the Holy Spirit, you want to correct these falsehoods.

At 60 years I am not afraid to speak the truth. There is a lot of what we do in church that are just the traditions of men.

6. My experience at 60 shows that most people are hypocrites. Marriages are not as we portray it to the public. Most families have common problems, but everybody wants to present a front that all is well.

When your wife is 58 and you are 60, she is a fellow man in the home. She is even a leader of a bigger party with your children. They see you in the light of your harshness. They take decisions excluding you unless they run into problems. Your wife and your children form another party in your home, but you are the minority leader.

After a great message on Sunday at Doxa Family Church, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

7. Write as many books you can write before 60 years. Read as much as you can. Read before 60 because your sleep pattern will change. Secondly, you will find yourself solving other people’s problems, and if you are not careful, you won’t have enough time for yourself.

8. At 60 my appetite for sex, food, and fashion is at its lowest ebb. The good thing, however, is that most of what I wished for in life, I now have. Another good thing is that my responsibility to society now pays for my enjoyment.

That’s the benefit of success.

God Bless You.

P.S: I’m inviting you all for my 60th Birthday on the 27th of April 2019 by 12 Noon at Petra Christian Academy, Ughelli. For directions click here.