Recently I got my first grey hair. It’s on the side of my head and it’s very obvious. I’ve never had a grey hair before. I sat down and tried to think how my first grey hair made me feel. If the truth be told, it made me feel a bit fearful. Does this mean I’m getting old? What does old age mean?

These are the questions my first grey hair raised amongst many others. And guess what, if it’s not grey hair, then it will be baldness or wrinkles, or the triple McChicken Combo of all three.

Here’s what it all means:

You always think you’ll never get a grey hair.

When I was 21, I never thought I’d get grey hair. You know how it is. In your younger years, you think you’ll live forever. The concept of death seems so far away, and very unlikely. That’s why I smoked cigarettes and drank a lot when I was young and you probably did too.

The day you get your first grey hair, you realize you have been lying to yourself. It sort of reminds me of what it was like to take a sip of soy milk a few months ago that was full of mold. It should have been delicious until that disgusting taste hit the back of my throat.

Lying to yourself is the same. Figuring out that you misled yourself for short-term gain is not pleasant. In the end though, as Tim Ferriss says, you have to forgive yourself.

We all do dumb stuff before we get grey hair and even lie to ourselves. Your first grey hair is the realization that lying to yourself must stop. We’re all getting grey hair and we all will die at some point. That can be an awesome reality as you’ll see if you read on.

The “young indicator” keeps moving.

At eighteen, I thought I was old. At twenty-one, I thought I was older. At thirty, I thought I was an old man. The word “young” keeps changing its meaning as we age. My mentor is forty and he still thinks that’s young. My parents have friends that are in their fifties which they still call young.

The first grey hair brings to light the fact that young is just a label that we give meaning too.

“We can be forever young if that’s how we chose to live”

Grey hair doesn’t define you.

Why? Because you can get it at any age. In fact, you can even be born with it in some rare circumstances. The term “Silver Back” is cool ladies and gentlemen. The real point to address is that the color of your hair doesn’t define you.

Just like the color of your skin, the place you were born, your sexuality or the color of your phone cover doesn’t define you. Your grey hair can mean the best change in your life if you let it.

You’re no less of a man or woman.

Having grey hair doesn’t take away any of what you’ve created.

“You can change the world, be happy, be grateful and be successful with or without grey hair”

Grey hair doesn’t rob you of your freedom or take away your dignity.

Grey hair should remind you of time.

Whether we know it or not, grey hair reminds us of time. We associate grey hair with age even if it has nothing to do with it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Being reminded about time and how short life is can help take you out of your routine.

That routine that makes you grind out each day the same way, while simultaneously forgetting who you are, who you want to become and the vision for your life.

Time is limited. Grey hair does not contain the same limitation.

With grey hair comes wisdom.

I only became the so-called Yoda of blogging (not my label) in the last year. The same year I got my first grey hair. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Usually, by the time you get a grey hair or two, you’ve lived a bit of life. You’ve seen things. For example, I’ve seen loved ones die, people get stabbed, people lose their lives to drugs, people go to work and hate their jobs and so much more.

These experiences that you rack up by the time you get your first grey hair give you wisdom. That wisdom is designed to be shared so you can help others avoid these same pitfalls.

Grey hair should be a reminder of how wise you’ve become and what you want to do with the rest of your life while you continue to get grey.

Cheers to the second grey hair and the next one after that.

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