Getting Over Getting Older... the upside of aging!

by Margaret DeStefano

Yes Ashleigh, it sure does. Also noted, wrinkles mean you laughed, grey hair means you cared, and scars mean you lived. But that's not the message we see so frequently on the news, commercials, and magazines. It's as if getting older is a disease. Curiously, getting older may be the first chance many of us get to actually slow down and enjoy the gift of life. We get to devote less time to our careers, raising children, and most of the time can be more present in the moment.

Precious time. We now have it. We can use everything we’ve learned so far to appreciate the world, enjoy nature, a hobby, and the people we choose to surround us. “For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned, it is the season of the harvest.” Hasidic quote.

According to Dr. Christiane Northrup, "The experience of aging as we know it is largely determined by beliefs that need updating. Though many people do decline with age in this culture, this decline is not a natural consequence of age. It is a consequence of our collective beliefs about aging. Researchers from Yale and Miami

University determined that people who saw growing older as something positive lived a whopping seven and a half years longer than those who didn’t. A lot of what makes us sad about aging is also connected with our concept of beauty, especially for women, in a culture that revers the young. I personally love the wonder of silver and gray hair, and wish mine would turn this magical color.

We finally realize that we’re only wasting time by holding grudges. We can let go of people who deplete our energy, we ignore the criticism of those who don’t matter, and we choose carefully who we want to spend time with. Growing old is a privilege, and every scar, and wrinkle tells of your amazing journey. Let’s enjoy the beauty of slower rhythms that we fall into as we age which allows us to take better notice, and appreciate the wonders of this amazing life. Aging gracefully means holding onto passion and always preserving a sense of humor. We now have more of the tools, wisdom, and knowledge to create the life that actually makes us happy.