Age 55,Men at Age Fifty-Five and Beyond

QUEENS, N.Y. - Dec. 11, 2016 - PRLog -- You are unobservant if you think there are no differences between men who are fifty-four and those who are fifty-five.

One long year is enough for a person to change both in body and in mind. On a daily basis the changes are hard to notice; nevertheless, they add up quickly. Because our body does not want our mind to worry, the changes are hidden from us but exposed for others to see.

Last year I wrote how no one can tell with certainty when middle-aged men are sad or happy. Unless they force a smile or laugh out loud, it is difficult to tell by reading their faces whether they are miserable or joyful. Age fifty-five is more of the same phenomenon. Tepid emotion continues as people get older; all feeling seems to stop at gut level, where it leads to belly tightness and constipation.

When you have been fifty-four and have just turned fifty-five, you begin to notice the differences between those two ages. For instance, weight is harder to maintain at age fifty-five than it is at age fifty-four. Furthermore, and speaking from my experience at sports, body healing slows down. Last year my recovery from post-soccer knee and ankle pain took five days; this year it takes seven days.

Thoughtfulness, however, is a psychological characteristic which separates men who are fifty-five from those who are fifty-four. When fifty-five year olds think of something they examine it deeply, looking at it from different angles, scratching away and jabbing at it like a hen with seven chicks to feed.

Fifty-five year olds can spend an entire day chewing over needless matters and issues. Thoughts follow them to the bathroom and at bedtime. Ideas accompany them to work and sit next to them during morning mass at church. When they think of their existence, they think of how they will go home.

I am not saying that younger men do not reflect about the past or do not remember that someday they too will go home.

'Nobody ever forgets that someday they will be home,' said my father. Knowing Dad, and knowing how he often spoke in idioms, he may have been alluding to a different home domain.

Younger men do ponder about home, but in a lackadaisical manner and not with the same seriousness as men in their fifties. It's hard to explain, but you can still tell the difference. It is like knowing the difference in taste between the same pot of soup when it is new and when it is old.

Nostalgia inhabits the hearts of men who are fifty-five. Home is their mind's favorite dwelling place. And if their home were like mine - Akokwa, a village in Nigeria - they will be thinking about years ago when they were kids. How they had wandered into a backyard forest and found a clearing where they threw sturdy dead twigs at high-hanging, dark cloud-colored pears - and perhaps were rewarded by fate, like I was, when a pear came falling to earth.

Footprints of imperfection mark each past year. Our fifties is a period when the height we never reached, the now-deceased uncle we no longer made time to talk with, the goals we never scored, the bad habits we wished we never picked up, all come replaying into our head.

Not everything is horrific for men in their fifties. Lots of middle-aged men can sometimes display sustained, heartfelt emotions. Such occasions, if not encouraged, begin to dwindle into despair. Unfortunately, many close, antagonistic family members and society in general plot to stifle passion in men who are in their fifties and beyond.

One more thing before I finish. And I apologize for bringing up this topic here, but I need to since it is relevant to men in their fifties and beyond.

Fat is the greatest enemy of middle-aged men. Cobwebs of fat slow down the body and bring the mind to its knees. A combination of sluggish body metabolism, poor exercise habits, overeating and over-drinking is to blame. Stay healthy. Eat like a bird if you are in your fifties.

At fifty-five, living is no longer an abrupt change of gears but a cruise along a rolling road with close views all round.

If you enjoyed reading this article, please donate a small sum to a nonprofit organization that helps elders in my hometown (Akokwa, Nigeria) live out their lives in dignity. Website: http://www.eldershelpinghands.org