We’ve all heard those familiar phrases: “You’re as young as you feel” or “Age is just a number”. But have you ever stopped to think that there might be an element of truth in them?

I was with a friend recently, catching up for a chat when she blurted out, “I feel so old!” I looked at her, surprised.

At the same age as me, she should be considered youthful. Far from being old, her keen fitness regime had kept her looking even younger than her actual age – a personal opinion, shared by many others who knew her and had come into contact with her.

So how could she be feeling old, when she looked so young?

“You’re as young as you feel,” I retorted. “If you’re convinced that you’re feeling old, you’ll age faster than you’d like.” I was hoping to knock some common sense into her.

“Look around us,” I said. “Some of the people we went to school with, look like they went straight from their teens into middle age!”

It was true.

I couldn’t help noticing, from personal observation, how some people of the same age group as ourselves, had aged so suddenly, that they now looked 10 years older than the rest of us.

Maybe their lives had gone different ways.

While some of us had chosen to stay single, for as long as humanly possible – in this pushy, pro-marriage society of ours, others had caved in and married shortly after leaving school, ending up parents in their early twenties.

Could it be that through marriage, kids and a bag-load of responsibility, they’d lost their sense of humour and fun? From my observations, the youthful people we once knew, had transformed into mostly serious, staid, not to mention, overweight individuals, who now reminded me more of somebody’s grandparents!

There was the girl I once knew, who’d morphed into a middle-aged mother of five. Her slim figure had been replaced with a permanent rotund one, which perhaps, she couldn’t help. But gone also, was the smiling, quirky attitude and sense of fun that had made her so likeable in her younger years.

She was now solemn, conservative and quite frankly, boring. On top of this, perhaps to camouflage her weight – she no longer wore anything apart from long, black shapeless garments. The only thing in common we share now, is our ages. But what a contrast! She appeared to be 10 years older!

I’m sure you can pick the people in your lives that have aged faster than others. You might tell a joke, only to have it met with a pious look and an upturned nose, from an “aged” friend, who just a few years earlier, would have found it hilariously funny.

On the other hand, there are those who have remained youthful and comparatively young, despite being of the same age.

I’ve observed senior citizens in their seventies and eighties who love to laugh and joke, never taking themselves seriously, despite their hardworking backgrounds, throughout their adult lives. Perhaps not coincidentally, they appear to be up to 20 years younger than others of their age, without a line, wrinkle, or grey hair in sight.

Yes, it may be easy to forget to remain young at heart when you have so much on your plate.

Physically, it doesn’t matter if you’re not stick-thin enough to be Brunei’s Next Top Model.

But there’s no doubt that apart from exercise and diet, it is our attitude and outlook, that play a big role in keeping us looking and feeling young.

So be careful how you think, because you really are, as young (or as old), as you feel.

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