What about Aging makes you feel Old? The definition of “Old” is having lived for a long time; no longer young. Two facts that you cannot dispute! But nowhere does it say that you feel differently about yourself and your life. Yet many women have told me that they feel different. They feel less than before, less interesting, less beautiful, less meaningful.
Is that a direct result of physical age or a result of them seeing themselves not through their own eyes but through the eyes of a society that has informed them daily as to how they should feel. What if everything that you saw on TV and everything you read talked about how amazing it is to be old? The word “Old” by definition has nothing negative about it but as it is used in our society it has become a thing of dread and fear….something to avoid at all costs; no matter how many Facelifts or Botox injections it takes.
In our society that is how life progresses. You’re young, you’re middle-aged, then your old. Of course, calling someone old is generally not considered polite, because the word, accurate though it might be, is frequently considered pejorative. But it is only accurate in that you are no longer young or middle-aged. You are in a different place; you are older than you use to be. You are not less than you were, you are still the exact same person. You do not need to change what needs to change is society’s view of aging. The value and gifts that you had at every age of your life are still with you now. Attitude is everything and just as you had to believe in yourself to accomplish the things that you have to this point in your life, you have every reason to believe in yourself now.
Being old and feeling “OLD” are two very different things.
There needs to be a shift, a new awakening around the word “Old”. There needs to be space around our concept of old and this space needs to be filled with new more current meanings created by people that are living a “New Old” where they continue to grow and express their self-worth. People who are not old they are just not young anymore!
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