"Oh, I'm just 29 … again."

It's a harmless game, denying our age, right? We play sensitive about our age as we get older, as we get further away from birth and closer to death. It's just a way to share our unease of growing older with people around us.

Try as we might, time marches on and we get older just same. I was reminded about this when I recently read that we are now seven million years old. That's at least a million years older than we were just one year ago.

Of course, that does not mean you or I personally aged a million years in past 365 days. That would be either a horror movie or work of a genius. An early human skull found in Sahara Desert is 7 million years old, pushing "the start of human evolution back at least another million years."

For you and me, age is important. Denying one's age, or even being sensitive about it, can be disabling. Our years, our lines, our scars are part of who we are. They should be a matter of comfort and pride. Happiness eludes us when we feel embarrassed, guilty, or shy about who we are.

It's time for each of us to take pride again in everything we are. Try saying something like this: "I am pushing 40 (or whatever age applies to you). I have lived 40 years. I have survived 40 years. I have experienced 40 years. I have learned from 40 years. (I have much more to learn, so God, please let me live another 40!) I have thrived, mostly, during 40 years. And I am proud of every one of those years."

********Copyright Chris Bloor 2002********

I don't know who David is.

I've never met him.

Thanks to his 'We're as-friendly-as-a-punch-up-the-throat' voice-mail message I doubt that I ever will.

It all started like this... I saw offer for website design.

David’s advertisement in my local newspaper looked great. (I'm a professional copywriter so I should know) It had all winning ingredients:

...Great Headline ...Benefits laden copy ...Convincing testimonials ...Impossible-to-resist offer

I was hooked! They had me! I grabbed phone, punched in their number and sat there, credit card in hand, ready to say "Yes! Please! Take my money!"

The lines were busy so a mechanical voice told me to wait a moment whilst I was transferred to their voicemail.

Then it happened...

I heard Dave and what he said TOTALLY destroyed their offer and convinced me NEVER to do business with them.

I was a little disappointed but not surprised.

After all it happens so often.

I think it's one of # 1 mistakes most business owners make on telephone.

You see, their advert had painted a picture in my mind.

I saw a quality business...

Professionals...

People I could trust.

People with a great offer and I seriously wanted to give them my money...

What did David do to stop all this?

I was expecting something like: