I Am Not a Number

Kathy Sporre ♦ February 14, 2014 ♦ 8 Comments

It’s pounded into our heads from the time we are born – that we are a number. How old are you? One? Four? Seven? Ten? It’s drilled into us that we are somehow defined by and are the number of birthdays we’re celebrating. Most of us celebrate them every year. It’s a celebration of life, growth, and hope – that is until we are considered old. Then it becomes an acknowledgement of yet another year of survival, pending doom, and one year closer to death. Who thought this stuff up – that we are the number of our birthdays – and why does the meaning of those birthdays change as we become older?

Can I not celebrate life, growth, and hope when I am 50?  70?  90? You bet I can, despite societal stereotypes. How can I escape the stereotypes imposed on me because of my birthday? It’s easy! I simply understand deep within the core of my being that I am not my birthday.

I am not a number. I do not follow a chronological, linear path in my life, as a number would suggest, with all the outdated stereotypes attached to it. I am not the recurring date of my birth on a calendar.

I am unique. I learn, grow, and discover at my own pace, depending on my life experiences. I reach pinnacles and walk through valleys. I see light, shadow and darkness. I love, and I grieve. I give, and I learn to accept. I am a tempest, and I am tame. I am all these things and more.

I am not a number. It’s impossible for a person to be a number. Numbers are static, unchanging, finite things. People are fluid, ever-changing beings. Moment to moment we change. We change our minds, our clothes, our attitude, our tastes, our feelings, our situation, etc. Do you see?

Society bases much of its structure on numbers. It’s the foundation for determining things. But structure is confining, defining and limiting – especially for people who are older. Stereotypes that have been around for decades have remained as static as the numbers associated with them. All the while people and the tangible world has been evolving and changing.

I am not a number. I am most certainly not what that number meant, represented by dates on a calendar, decades ago. I was born into and influenced by a changed, new world.

If you’re stuck in a box with a number on it, get out of it! Do it as quickly as you can before you believe the lie, and reach that tipping point where a number of celebration turns into a number of mere existence. Refuse to be a number and claim your God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness all the days of your life.

I am not a number. I am spirit, and the human spirit is ageless. I invite you to join me as I become “Refined by Age”™ instead of defined by age.