Aging with Grace – Becoming the Real You!
A male friend of mine once told me that in asking a female friend how she managed to stay so beautiful in her older years, she replied that being beautiful was easy; it was maintaining it that was hard. His comment stopped me in my tracks as I thought about how much money and time we pour into trying to retain our youth, resisting with all our might the aging process for how long???
For those reading this that have gracefully accepted their maturing process, hats off to you! This has definitely been a challenge for me and a process I can no longer ignore. No matter how much younger any of us may look than we actually are, I think we can all agree that the body does change over time – a fact that at some point can no longer be ignored.
Looking younger than your years can be a disadvantage in some ways when people expect things of you that you no longer feel inclined or are able to do. It is also annoying when as a culture, we spend so much time talking about how age-wise the 80s are the new 70s, the 70s the new 60s and the 60s the new 50s etc. - a ploy to keep us all working longer I would bet! While this may be true, it can invalidate many of our former experiences and the wisdom we’ve gained through them when it feels our years haven’t accounted for much.
I believe that to honour the aging process, it’s important to remember that it’s natural to feel more tired the older we become. We are all likely to have less energy than we did in the previous decade. We can’t fight nature all the way to the grave without at some point, giving in to what we can and can’t tolerate or want and don’t want to do anymore – all a sign of the maturing process. It’s been a huge relief to allow myself to become more accepting of my aging process by releasing the vision I’ve had of myself for so long rooted at around age 30. Wow! I’ve literally had to study my reflection in the mirror and permit the “me” of today to emerge without judgement, disappointment, unrealistic expectations and frustration by my former self. So what if a few gray hairs show on occasion? Haven’t I earned it? (I’ll skip the other signs I’ve noticed, but they’re there).
It feels freeing to acknowledge that aging allows us to live more authentically (we don’t always see this in earlier years). By denying the existence of extra wrinkles, looser skin, more flab, brown spots, white hair, gray hair, cellulite, failing sight, aches, pains, decreased energy, the necessity to use less or no makeup, requiring extra help and everything else in between (many signs and symptoms I’ve yet to experience), it is not only unfair to the burgeoning senior within, but is also a denial of what we came here to fully experience, which for many includes living as part of an older generation. Yikes!
It is a mystery to me why we don’t value the aged population similar to all that we appreciate in an aged wine, when there is such a wealth of experience and wisdom amongst the mature. My take on it is this: embrace the aging process gracefully with the knowledge that as a powerful Spirit being working in tandem with the physical, we can naturally look more youthful, feel more vibrant and reduce many of the limitations our physicality would seem to impose on us when and as we see fit. We don’t have to control everything that develops along the way, just learn to accept and enjoy every new experience. (By the way, loving my new Dr. Scholl’s insoles)!
My heart to yours,
Vonne
