Being Noah Tesfaye #39: Being My Best at 65 Years Old

One of the things that terrifies me the most is the idea of “peaking” at a young age. It scares the living hell out of me. Whenever I hear the story from anyone about how high school “was the best four years of my life,” I don’t know what to say. Don’t get me wrong, that is totally a fair and valid opinion to have, but I just don’t want that. It’s kind of like you’re trying to just say that you passed the easiest level of Super Mario Bros and just giving up after that believing your joy cannot get any better.

I dream about undergrad, grad school, and so much more. I want to live a life of constant evolution, always looking to make the most out of all the opportunities I have. That’s what makes this statement about high school or college being “the greatest time of my life” so worrisome. What are you living to achieve if you’ve already reached your peak? What do you want to do for your future if you’ve already gotten to the best part?

I’m going to come off as incredibly crazy when I say this, but it’s the truth: I want to peak at the age of 65. Yup. 65 years old. Six and a half decades. Allow me to explain.

Every single day, I am always trying to get better, at anything. This continual hope to get better at something, whether it means reading a chapter of a book, to researching on a topic that I’m passionate about, or anything in between, is crucial. I may not be doing anything that I’m particularly interested in, but if it is pushing me further towards my goals, that’s what I do.

I also try to set goals that are almost bigger than life. If it will take nearly my whole life to achieve them, I know that my journey to achieving my “peak” is something constantly evolving. It gives me something to always wake up to and try to be prepared to be the best I can. Every single day is a chance to further the chase. So even in the worst of days, I can still see that goal and be excited about where I want to be one day.

I don’t really know where this belief in my head originated from. It could have been one of those Gary Vaynerchuk videos that I may have stumbled upon, or it may have just been reading history and seeing great people do incredible things beyond what was considered a human’s “prime.” And it just made sense. Why not just continue to build up your journey all the way to the point where you know the goal is near impossible, but the path to this goal is the true accomplishment?

Maybe having this goal of becoming my best at 65 years old is irrational (it probably is). But at the very least, I still believe that this goal is the reason why I want to make the most of the opportunities I have. It’s what keeps me ticking at all times. And sure, even though no one may understand why I think this way, I find it to almost be a reason to justify why I think this way.

Reaching my very best at 65 probably is an understatement though. I mean my idol, the Notorious RBG (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), is writing some of her best descents yet, most of which has come after that age. She’s such an inspiration for always pursuing what you love and working as hard as you can when people expect you to not be as passionate as you once were. I want to be able to enjoy whatever I may do at that point in my life and I want to appreciate it as much as I ever had.

So, age 65 is when I want to accomplish the final goal. So I’ll just continue to work hard knowing that I’m still more than forty years away from the beginning of the end of this journey. See you all next week…