To what extent do you believe in the famous proverb that says that “age is just a number”?
If you are one of the lucky ones and have taken these words as your motto in life, then you are going to enjoy this article.
How many times have you felt the need for change only for an inner voice to sound in your head saying that “you are too old for that”? How many times have you wanted to free yourself from an old habit and do something totally new, only to be met with other people saying, “but can you do that at your age?”
We all tend to have things that we want to do, but sometimes our pattern of thinking or social norms get in the way and leave us unhappily imprisoned.
In order to believe that age is just a number, it is necessary to adopt a recipe that combines resilience, persistence, with embracing difference and having a positive attitude to life.
Hillary Press, over 60 years old, is originally Australian and has been living and working in Egypt as a fitness trainer for more than 30 years. She believes that we are as old as we feel.
“The problem about people and age is that when they know your age, they may have expectations about how you should be and behave. This becomes noticeable as we grow older, but it starts in childhood as some parents might have expectations of their children doing things at a certain age and not later,” Press said.
“If their child is late in doing something, they might start comparing their child with other children, even though children develop differently and girls develop faster than boys. So, how we are raised really affects us when we grow older, including our resilience and our ability to do something, regardless of how old we are beginning to feel,” she added.
Press said that she was “blessed by having parents who encouraged me when I was young to do what I wanted regardless of how old I was. I grew up with this attitude towards life.”
“Our attitudes should not be related to how old you are or how young you are. It is the amount of positive thinking you have and the amount of determination you have to avoid people’s comments that reduces self-motivation,” she added.
Press said that expectations from society might be the biggest blockage to doing new things as we age, including hearing comments on how you should be and behave at different life stages. People might tell you that you can’t do something because you are too old, whereas in fact if you want to do something, you should do it, she said.
“You owe yourself the honour of trying regardless of what people around you tell you. And the surprising fact is that once you do what you want and believe in it regardless of your age, you will find people starting to look up at you differently and changing their resistance bit by bit,” she said.
“When you do something positive, people will respond positively to what you are doing. It is important to act not according to people’s expectations, but from your own self-worth. If you can do that by taking baby steps to what you want to achieve, that could be the best thing to do,” she added.
“I believe that one of the things that helps me in maintaining a positive mental attitude is having a purpose,” Press said. “This is vital, regardless of what the purpose is. Whether it is a small or a big purpose, it is important to have one and to work for it, regardless of your age.”
“My recipe is that I don’t stop myself from doing something because of my age. I still work as fitness trainer, and I encourage people to take care of their physical fitness at any age,” Press said, adding that could also break one of the main cornerstones of the age stigma, since when you exercise your brain releases endorphins, which automatically make you feel better.
“Exercise is a must if you want to feel younger, and it is a main stimulus to be able to accomplish other things in life. Another piece of advice I have is to always wear colourful clothing, regardless of your age. Life is full of colour – and remember that your life is your choice and you should try from time to time to exit from your comfort zone.”
FITNESS: 60-year-old Amany Khalil also works as a fitness trainer. She is a runner and has competed in many national and international races including the Ironman race.
“I made a career shift early in life from a banker to a fitness trainer. I had passion for sports from a really young age, and I would say that my main accomplishment is that I have been able to reach the age of 60 while following my fitness career,” Khalil said.
“The older I get, the more fitness accomplishments I have. My passion for running and aerobics started when I was living in the US many years ago. People I trained with noticed my performance, and my career shift came from there. I got certified as a fitness trainer, and I started a new journey when I returned to Egypt,” she added.
“My passion for running came while I was working as a trainer. I joined several running groups and came third in my first marathon in Luxor. I ran national and international marathons until I reached 47 years old, when I started to train for triathlons where I would run, cycle, and swim.”
“My intention was always to be a role model – to be a mother and raise my two children, to keep my career going, and to get high scores in international marathons and triathlons.”
Khalil said that her breakthrough came when she was 48 at the Ironman competition in Spain. People were a bit negative at the time, asking how she could swim, run, and cycle when she was nearly 50. But she decided to participate anyway, and even though she did not set a record, she still felt that she needed to train more and enter more Ironman competitions.
“Before turning 50, and while holding Egypt’s flag, I was able to take part in the international Ironman competition. This was one of the most moving moments in my life, and I was fully backed up by my husband and children,” Khalil said.
“Now that I am 60, I still train, run, and cycle and never see my age as an obstacle to accomplish what I want. Resilience and persistence are my moto, regardless of the social image some people may want to project onto me,” she said.
Psychotherapist Salma Al-Baradei said that our society emphasises youth, and since a large percentage of the Egyptian population is made up of young people, this is a good thing.
However, sometimes, she said, society can be obsessed with youth, thinking that only young people deserve to have fun or opportunities. This idea can be emphasised by the fact that Egypt is a conservative society that has rules and norms about how people are expected to behave.
As a result, when someone wants to act outside the rules, he or she may find resistance from society. “People may say, ‘you want to get married at your age?’ or they may not take a certain hobby or interest seriously after a certain age,” she said. They may think that new experiences are only for the young.
“I remember the doorman of my apartment building, who was 60 years old and wanted to join an adult literacy group. But when he went, they said that people above 30 were not allowed, and even his friends asked him why he was bothering with education when he was 60 years of age,” Al-Baradei said.
“These criticisms give the impression that there is a certain timeline for having fun or living the life you want or learning something new. But this is totally wrong. Fortunately, there has been progress in this area, and social media has also been good at producing new role models, showing people who have started things late in life,” she added.
“I would say that each individual needs to decide for himself or herself how they feel about their age, and in this regard how you talk to yourself is very important. Each person should examine their limiting beliefs and assumptions about age and claim the right to self-discovery.”
“We should not pay so much attention to criticism. It is very important to see other ways of being, since these can be inspiring as well. In fact, doing something when you are more advanced in age does have a different taste – as you may be doing it more out of enjoyment.”
Al-Baradei’s advice, like that of the other people Al-Ahram Weekly talked to, is to enjoy the process of making choices for yourself as you age.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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