Never Too Old Nor Too Late

Do you ever think to yourself that something or other is past it, or can't be done? Maybe, after all, it's getting too old and/ or it's too late.  Depending on what age we are, or where we are in our life, we may have these thoughts about ourselves.  There are two life lessons that I have experienced over the last couple of weeks that have helped me dispel this myth.

The first was our sick 45 year old jeep (Actually my husband calls it a 'go anywhere' Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, but it's easier just to call it a jeep).  It was in a sorry state. As soon as she started up, she had problems keeping on running - a feeling I know well. I was starting to wonder whether it was worth having an old vehicle and was it too late for her to perform better - I know this feeling too. My husband tried some perfunctory fixing under the bonnet and with blackened, oily hands broke the news that we, as in the both of us, had to somehow get it to a garage.  The challenge was how to do this when the jeep needed to be kept at high revs, otherwise it cut out and refused to move again. It was a double challenge to do this and keep the jeep going, while tackling the heavily congested Bali roads,  which is like diving into a rugby scrum of vehicles and hoping to survive without any scrapes or breakages at the end of it.


We agreed (I somewhat reluctantly - knowing the likelihood of breaking down) that my husband would drive the jeep and I would follow in my car with a set of jump leads, should the inevitable happen.  We had a promising start.  The two roads leading from our home in Bali are quiet, rice field lined lanes, so my husband could let the jeep rip through the countryside at high revs and without stopping. The problems started when we had to cross onto a main road that looked as though we had just hit rush hour, even though it was only 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning.  

My husband had to stop before crossing the junction, otherwise he would have caused carnage. I could hear the roaring of the jeep's engine as he tried, in vein, to keep the revs high, while slowing down at the same time, but after a burst of energy and desperately wanting to keep on going, it spluttered and died.


Now what? I drove behind the jeep, so both our vehicles were obstructing the entrance to the road.  A group of young to middle aged Balinese men were perched in their little bamboo hut, doing their usual 'watching the world go by' and I could feel their eyes diverting to us. 

They were obviously asking the same question and curiously wondering what this expatriate couple would do next. We pretended to look as though we knew what we were doing, lined up the two vehicles and attached the jump leads.  


The jeep started up, my husband wedged his shoe on the accelerator while he detached the jump leads and we were ready to attempt crossing the junction again. I wanted to turn around and find some other way to fix the jeep.  My husband had made up his mind that we were going to complete this mission. Fortunately for us and by some miracle act, we made it across the junction and in one piece. By taking a deep breath and momentarily closing my eyes to traffic approaching me in both directions, I managed to dart across the junction as if my car were attached to the jeep.


Luckily, the road to the garage was straight ahead and after quite a scary, fast and furious ride, revving up behind and overtaking the dawdling motorbikes, cars and chugging lorries, we made it and the mechanics were more than happy to fix our jeep. When we picked her up the next day, she had been fixed and cleaned - she was positively gleaming in the garage.  My husband drove her out and she was as good as new. 


Since then we've been driving along dirt tracks and over bumpy fields down to various beaches and all the time she's roared as confidently and proud as a lion.

The second life lesson happened to be my experience at the gym.  After a two month relapse of not doing anything to keep fit, I reluctantly knew that I had to get back on the treadmill.  My first week back was poor.  It felt like heavy lead weights had been attached to my body and not even the song 'La Bamba' motivated me. 


My friend Alison re-assured me that it would come back very quickly if I took it a step at a time. These words of wisdom kept me going and by the end of the second week I made a turnaround when the old song 'One Way Ticket' by Eruption started booming out of my headphones and quickened the step in my stride.  

There was only one way I was going and that was forwards. The next song 'Coming Back to You' by Bryan Adams made me feel like my body was coming back to me and by the time Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life' started playing, I broke out into a run for the whole song! Yes, I know my music collection is dated, but these old songs must somehow take me back to my youth and sometimes do wonders for my energy levels at the gym.  (By the way, those are not my fit looking legs on the picture).


I did have to quickly change the tune when Chris Rea's 'Road to Hell' started playing and the good news is that we can actually make these kind of changes.  If something is telling us one thing - whether it is self talk or somebody else and we don't want to hear it or we start to wrongly believe in it - we can change the tune to a better, more productive one. 


What have these little life lessons taught me? As C.S. Lewis wisely said:-


"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."



And an equally powerful quote from George Elliot that I like is:-


"It is never too late to be who you might have been."


Enjoy being who you want to be and doing what you want to do.


Janet