Getting Older is a Good Thing!

As I’ve grown into being me, I have learned to become kinder and less judgmental of myself. I’ve become comfortable in my own skin. I really enjoy spending time with myself. I used to feel sad if I didn’t have plans on a Saturday night, but now I enjoy a quiet night at home. I have seen too many wonderful people leave this world way too soon, before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging and feeling happy. To feel that inner calm with one-self is the truest gift of happiness.
Really, I must ask you, whose business is it anyway if I choose to read, play on the computer until 4 AM, or indulge in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream directly out of the container, spoon in hand? Or sleep until noon for that matter? If I choose to weep over a lost love, I will! Maybe I’ll dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60’s, 70′s and 80’s.That is my choice and my decision.
Maybe I just feel like walking along the beach in a swimsuit that is stretched over my not so perfect figure, with a few bumps and wrinkles, and the not so pretty cellulite that has come with age. But it really doesn’t matter because I will dive into the waves with abandon, and it feels so good! Even if I get the disapproving glances from the perfect jet-set crowd, who the hell cares? Their turn will come too! We all age and that is the beauty of life. As my mother say’s, “the alternative to aging stinks!”
As I have gotten older, I have so much trouble remembering new names. Even the ones I know very well, I still forget quite often! Finding my house keys takes forever. And they’re always in the same place…go figure. But if this is the worst of it, so be it!
My heart has been broken over the years and that is okay. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, a relationship fails, a child suffers, or when somebody’s beloved pet passes away? It is, however, having the broken hearts that give us strength, empathy, understanding, and compassion into our lives and ourselves. As the saying goes, “It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” A heart that has never been broken is cold and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect. To love and be loved is the greatest gift of all.
I am so grateful to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray. Yes, it’s an added expense to get it colored (which I do only a few times a year), but really, is this a big deal? I even like my wrinkles. They give me character, showing that I have lived and laughed. Katharine Hepburn was so elegant and beautiful with her wrinkles and all. She never touched her face and yet her beauty and life still shined through. I admire that.
As you get older, it is easier to be more positive. You care less about what other people think. I don’t question myself anymore. I’ve even earned the right to be wrong. I like being older. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, so while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been. Nor will I worry about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day if I feel like it. Sometimes I may even change it up and eat dessert as my entree. I just love that I have choices and growing older has taught me this.
Aging is about feeling great and embracing the real you. You have become older and wiser, clearer and calmer. Getting older is a GOOD thing, so enjoy the process!