Embrace Your Age, It’s Just a Number

Plot Twist! Most Good Things Improve with Age

We live in an age of plastic surgery and Botox where people deny their age to appear younger and moan and groan about their birthday’s being sad occasions. Yet, to me, aging is something to embrace and be proud of. We should celebrate every damn year of our lives. Life is hard and full of knock down drag out battles that we endure and come out with stretch marks and wrinkles to prove our age and our growth. We should be proud of those markings because with those come lessons, knowledge, wisdom, patience, and new perspectives.

As children we look at people in their sixties and seventy’s as “old”. As we grow up age becomes a matter of perspective. Everything becomes relative to where we are in our own timeline. Suddenly at thirty, forty doesn’t seem so old. Likewise, at forty, sixty and seventy doesn’t seem so old. Age is simply a number. What matters most in my humble opinion is how you feel and how you perceive the world. I read a great article in Psychology Today where the author explained how more people should, “explore the relationship between attitude, graceful aging, and physical health. Aging with G.R.A.C.E.”

Here is the explanation of G.R.A.C.E. by Catherine Roland:

Gratitude: Thankfulness as a concept seems more connected to religion or spirituality at first consideration. But being thankful, or feeling gratitude, is an essential part of acceptance and satisfaction. It’s a kindness we can allow for ourselves. Having gratitude — for your life, gifts, family, whatever you hold dear — allows for celebration of being alive.

Resilience: We have all faced adversity, and many of us have faced both personal and physical adversity. At times, we seem to know or intuit what to expect when there is loss in life, or disappointment, and we overcome it. Physical resilience is often far more difficult to achieve, especially given our busy, ‘moving’ world and our expectations for ourselves as wells others in our lives. To feel ‘sick’ or physically compromised is often seen as unacceptable, as though we should be able to power through the worst illness. How can we be resilient unless we accept a weakness and then rise above it? The health issues we may have are linked irrevocably with life satisfaction and just plain joy.

Attitude: Attitude is a key influencer for all human interaction. Approach a salesclerk and see how long it takes you to assess her/his attitude about the job, the merchandise, the weather, your smile or even the phone call they were on before you came by. Her/his attitude is observable and can drive future interactions to a negative and harmful place. Think of a situation recently where you could feel your attitude, and feel some negativity in it, or annoyance. Did you turn it around? Reframe it into a more logical and perhaps humorous exchange? Try it — your smile alone will be soothing, and the fact that you will know that you made a choice to reframe it positively will have an impact.

Courage: Courage is imperative to aging well. The media bombards us with ads for drugs to help us ‘not feel old’ or ‘not look old.” It can be difficult to frame aging as anything but negative. It takes courage to confront myths, to ask a relative about their aging path, the pitfalls and how they cope with feeling as if they are alone in the aging process. This aloneness takes courage to endure.

Education: It’s perfect that the E occurs at the end. Information is vital, especially as we age. From Medicare to Social Security to rehabilitative care, it’s important for you to stay informed. Ask yourself if you have adequate information about the services in your area that are open to you. Speaking with friends and acquaintances about their positive health experiences can be valuable in choosing your professionals. If the services you require or desire are not in your town or area, consider what you can do to recreate or join with the professionals who can assist. That should be a discussion with current doctors as well as friends, family and colleagues — other people know all kinds of things that can add to your knowledge and therefore education.

My dad’s biggest fear when I was growing up was death. That always surprised me because he was a very religious man and very active in his church. As my parents aged they both voiced concerns and sadness as they experienced the loss of close friends. It is hard to be the ones left living. This past year my own dad passed away and it was my mom who was left a widow. Fortunately, she is doing well and continuing to honor his life by living her own life and keeping his spirit alive. My mom is 85 years young and going strong. She is living alone, traveling, and playing golf. What a great role model for how to embrace life at any age. She says the secret to keeping her mental health strong is her Bridge card game and simply practicing gratitude for a life well lived. The truth is, none of us can escape death, so we might as well live each day to the fullest rather than in fear or regret. I am thrilled to say my mom is living with G.R.A.C.E.

I was recently asked on Quora, “What gets better with age?” and I answered, I feel most things improve with age, but perhaps most of all, my own life. Like I mentioned earlier, I have come to appreciate aging, but the key is to take care of our body and mind so that we feel good in the process. You see, I didn’t really know who I was until I was thirty. Until then, I was just going through the motions doing what I was told, keeping the peace, and trying to please everyone else at the price of my own happiness. Once I learned to listen to my authentic voice and shed the need for external validation I began to awaken. I started living from the limitless place of the soul rather than the confines of the ego level, which is fear based.

I like to compare my aging to fine red wine. It only gets better with time and good company. My list of other things that get better with time include:

• Aged Balsamic
• Parmigiana Reggiano
• Leather
• Denim
• Antiques
• Knowledge
• Wisdom
• Patience
• Communication
• Decisions
• Perspectives
• Judgement
• Orgasms
• Acceptance

“Old” people get a bad reputation for bad driving, poor health, and loss of memory. But I like the way the author in the article I quoted mentioned to look at G.R.A.C.E. To me, it is all about mindset. When we awaken and ascend into higher consciousness we realize that we shed what no longer serves our higher purpose and we live our life with purpose and soul. We nurture our bodies so that they can take care of our souls and we practice self-care to nurture our souls so that they shine from within us. If we are taking care of our bodies and souls we do not have to dread bad health or loss of memory. Growing old becomes a privilege and a right of passage.

Takeaway

Invest in yourself. Start now, where you are, with what you have, at any age. Respect your elders for they have much to teach and we have much to gain from them.

Start moving more

Start eating more organic food

Start learning something new

Start connecting with inspiring people

Start challenging your mind

Start investing your money

Start balancing your body (Use a chair or wall if you need assistance)

Start a gratitude journal

Start celebrating each birthday

Start practicing kind self-talk

We do not need plastic surgery to be beautiful. If you want it, fine, you will not get judgment from me. But practicing full acceptance and self-love is priceless. When we live in alignment with our authentic self and do the shadow work to fix our self-limiting beliefs and thoughts we can then visualize the life of our dreams and manifest our deepest desires. Why wouldn’t we look forward to each birthday when we are living the life we love? Every year is a celebration of self-mastery. You are fabulous. Love your body and skin you are in and marvel at the miracle that is your soul. This will shift your perspective by living with a spirit of gratitude where your light will glow brightly from within at any age.