A five to ten year bonus

We don't develop at the same speed.

Some of us are much more precocious than others and I often wonder if this gap, that can be measured in a five to ten year span, among us humans, can ever be shrunk, caught up or eliminated?

As time goes on and as I mature, I realize more and more that I was one of these late bloomers. Not on all counts, but on some of characteristics like physical development and in certain mental dispositions to name just a couple.

Quite understandably, this was hard for me to accept as a young person and I've always seen this decoupling of maturity as a major handicap.

Today, as I find myself in my golden years, it appears to me that what used to be an impediment seems to work in reverse and still gives me a much younger outlook on life, makes me far more energetic and significantly less blasé and cynical than most of my contemporaries.

I now see this trait as a “blessing in disguise”, an extension of my lease on life and a fire that keeps on burning. Once more, there are two sides to every coin!