Acceptance and Aging
All over Social Media Influencers and other authors are offering us a million easy ways to be our happiest and healthiest and most beautiful selves as we age. But pretending that aging does not take some mental adjusting and some work on our part would be very unrealistic. Throughout our lives we have learned that in general you get out of something what you put into it. This is also true of aging.
If you just drift along and put no effort into what you want your aging years to look like then it may not turn out to be your best-case scenario. I believe there are three concepts that need to be accepted as we age; accepting physical changes, accepting that we may have to lower our expectations and finally accepting that the world around us is changing.
As the years go by, we all see ourselves changing physically and mentally. Whether you take advantage of cosmetic procedures or not many aspects of your physical appearance will still change no matter what you do. There will be wrinkles there will be spots and there will be changes in our shapes. Thinking that we should continue to look as we always have, and seeing it as a negative when we do not, is setting ourselves up for disappointment. Keeping in mind that everything we are experiencing is normal and nothing to be ashamed of can help us change our expectations at every age.
Dealing with our expectations means that we may not only have to lower what we expect of ourselves but what we expect of others. There are people who stop doing things that they love because they cannot do it as well as they use to. That is self-defeating and sad. I know someone who stopped playing golf because she cannot accept that she is not as good as she used to be. How nice it would be if she could change her expectations of herself and be proud that at a certain age she is actively engaging in golf and doing as well as she can at that age. If you constantly wishing you were who you used to be you will miss seeing who you are today!
Last but not least accepting that the world around us is changing. Instead of complaining about how things are now and wishing for the world to be the way it used to be. Get involved in today’s world, learn the new things, read the new books, see the new movies, travel and see new places, make new friends, you are still living and changing and growing so don't sell yourself short enjoy where you are now in your life. Rejoice at how lucky you are to be alive and have the chance to live in this exciting new time of your life.