Imagine this:
A person with a high cholesterol level refuses to refrain from unhealthy food because he thinks that “a cholesterol level is just a number.”
An overweight person insists on eating like there’s no tomorrow because he believes that “my weight is just a number.”
Or a 5-year-old telling her mother it’s okay to smoke and drink because “age is just a number.”
Do all the above make sense to you?
When I was much younger, I used to spew romantic-sounding power quotes to impress others and myself. But now that I’m young (last time was much younger), I find most of these quotes are at best meaningless and at worst, harmful.
Imagine telling a 60-year-old who has high blood pressure to go skydiving or do bungee jump because, hey, age is just a number! And the 60-year-old believes you…
Therefore, before you use any romantic-sounding power quote to encourage another person in future, ask yourself whether the quote makes sense to the person in that context or not.
So, yes. Many things can be just a number, and that number can be a dangerous one.
