My mom is celebrating a massive birthday this month and so are two of my aunts. Their ages have me doing some very serious reflection. I am thinking about the times when I never though I would be the age I am now, never mind being the age that my mother and aunts are. My mom is celebrating her eighty-second birthday! How amazing.
When I was much younger, getting older was something I looked forward to. It was exiting to think about being eighteen or twenty-three, and “doing a lot of things” I couldn’t do as a child. Once hitting the many milestone birthdays though, I, like many others, start thinking about things like old age, retirement, the end times, death, funerals, and all kind of things that were not a part of our thinking process at eighteen or twenty-three! I start to worry about what I did not, or have not done, and wonder if I will have enough time to make good on those losses. Sometimes I resign myself to the fact that I can’t be twenty-three again, so I might as well move forward and do the best I can with what I’ve got. Do I feel better? Only sometimes.
What’s the deal? How do we when we are fifty or beyond, go forward embracing the experiences life has to offer, without wanting to “turn back the hands of time.” To help me along the way (and with some hesitation), here are some things I hope to put into practice to help me focus on the future without completely loosing my sanity…
1. Start looking at the grey hairs emerging from my scalp, and say something nice about them instead of wanting to banish them from my life right away.
2. Look at my aging body going through its growing pains, and begin to treat it with more tenderness. It has been exposed to a whole lot of harshness over the years.
3. Embrace the idea that my forever-aching feet cannot tolerate wearing high-heeled shoes as often as I used to. Though it give me the “it” factor, I should think about comfort not style.
4. Remove myself from anyone or anything that does not bring me peace. Being peaceful is going to help me to navigate the rest of my life without being in therapy forever.
5. Think about birthdays as the times in life to look forward to being who I really want to be, and doing what I can do without any limits.
What’s the deal? How do we when we are fifty or beyond, go forward embracing the experiences life has to offer, without wanting to “turn back the hands of time.” To help me along the way (and with some hesitation), here are some things I hope to put into practice to help me focus on the future without completely loosing my sanity…
1. Start looking at the grey hairs emerging from my scalp, and say something nice about them instead of wanting to banish them from my life right away.
2. Look at my aging body going through its growing pains, and begin to treat it with more tenderness. It has been exposed to a whole lot of harshness over the years.
3. Embrace the idea that my forever-aching feet cannot tolerate wearing high-heeled shoes as often as I used to. Though it give me the “it” factor, I should think about comfort not style.
4. Remove myself from anyone or anything that does not bring me peace. Being peaceful is going to help me to navigate the rest of my life without being in therapy forever.
5. Think about birthdays as the times in life to look forward to being who I really want to be, and doing what I can do without any limits.
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