The idea behind the idiom “over the hill” is that a person is advancing up the hill of life in the first 40 or 50 years, after which life is a downward slope. The expression is used to convey that someone is past his or her prime, old beyond usefulness or no longer able to perform the way they used to.

As someone who is considerably down the slope by this particular measure, I’d like to share some mindset practices.

What you affirm matters. What I find to be of great value is to shift what I affirm. Instead of affirming how old I am and all that I can no longer experience, I consciously look for opportunities to affirm ways in which I am still young and exploring new avenues of thought and growth.

The future is an illusion. There’s always tomorrow. Or so you think, but how do you know for sure? The present is where everything is going on for you. As such, remind yourself that your life is not going to happen someday in the future. It’s happening right now.

Daily mission

Focus on the present. It is what deserves your attention — the boring, the frustrating and the challenging, right alongside the exciting and the loving. Today is made of your memories. Find them amid the hardships or you’ll lose them forever.

Is it possible that though you are complaining today about your advanced years, you might one day look back on this time and say, “I don’t know why I thought I was old then”?

Alice Inoue is the founder of Happiness U. Visit yourhappinessu.com.