Getting older sucks! There I said it. Getting old sucks!
Ok, that’s been established. Having said that, what are our options? Well, there really are two, stop aging, not really an option for me, or age with just a little more grace.
We have just celebrated a birthday in our house. Doug, my husband turned 52. We have a lot of birthdays in our house, as most people do, but when we have a birthday you get to pick what you want for your birthday dinner and what kind of dessert you want. When the kids were little, we had a lot of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and pizza dinners. As we are all adults now, dinners have progressed…a little. Our youngest will probably still ask for mac and cheese this year even though she turns 19. Desserts are now more likely to be pie rather than cupcakes, but nobody complains.
This gets the mind thinking about getting old. My parents, both in their seventies, are struggling with multiple health challenges, but thank God, we still have my parents, Doug’s have already passed. Every morning I watch Doug get out of bed and creak and crack as he heads to the bathroom. I think about him getting old, then I get out of bed and snap, crackle, pop myself. Is this normal? Does everyone get out bed like this? The answer is of course no.
I remember bouncing out bed in my twenties, nothing hurt. Nothing cracked. Nothing ached. Nothing felt old. Well ok, I have never bounced out of bed. I am not a morning person. But you know what I mean. So, am I supposed to ache like this?
Well, the way I see it, you can get up in the morning drudging the day because you ache, creak, crack, are stiff, because you hiked 10km before breakfast, or you can ache, creak, crack, and are stiff because you can’t remember the last time you broke a sweat that wasn’t caused by getting out of the chair quickly or extra spicy chicken wings.
If you are blessed to keep aging, then you should in some way take care of the body you have. There are a lot of people that would love to have a family member age just a little bit longer. Our minds are trapped in a world where we still think of ourselves, when we were in our “glory days”, but our bodies are not trapped and have kept on aging.
There are tonnes of things to do to age a little better. So pick one, or two, or more. Just do something. I used to think of aging as a bad thing and now, I am grateful for getting the opportunity to do so.
Find what works for you.
● Eat just a little healthier.
● Lose a few pounds.
● Find an activity that you love to do and do it.
● Use your mind in ways that have nothing to do with work.
● Spend time with people younger than you.
● Enjoy the time that you have.
● Laugh a lot!
You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there. – George Burns
