I remember when I was a child, my brother Joey and I would always dream of turning 35! Yes, 35! It was the oldest number we thought we’d become. You see we were 10 and 12, so 35 felt like a lifetime lived. We’d often fantasize about where we’d live… marriage? careers? More importantly what we would look like….!
Now that I am waypast 35 I think about those conversations and chuckle to myself. We were children, young and innocent with honestly no idea what growing older really meant.
As I am getting older, I love it! I have come to understand and respect the knowledge and real understanding that comes with experiences that bring shift and change. With aging comes the confidence that at 20, 30 and even in my 40’s I never had. I suffered from people pleasing and judging folks. In all fairness to me, I had some interesting life experiences that led for those awful character traits to live themselves out.
As I age, my no is no and my yes is yes. My acceptance is real, honest with no strings attached. I have come to accept forgiveness and give forgiveness and simply move on. I do not dwell on the past and pick up other folks offenses.
I live with the clear understanding that I am living the life God intended me to live with much more to come and that gives me a renewed purpose and hope each morning.
I respect people’s privacy, and their opinions while guarding my own and living in my truth. I learned that prayer and stillness trumps reacting and trying to fix things that sometimes don’t need or want to be fixed!
I learned that my body may change, my skin might not look as tight and my hair is grayer than I ever wanted it to be, but my heart, mind, and soul are whole and full of peace. My outward appearance may define my age, and I am okay with that.
The newfound wrinkles are from laughing too hard or crying so intensely. My extra weight is from the children I carried and the delicious food I shared with my family and friends and the workouts I missed, just to sit at home and watch tv alone or with my family.
You see there is no reason to stall aging or reverse it. It’s the marker in time that lets folk know that you are living and have lived a full life. All the ups and downs, fears and triumphs have given definition to your words, that everything you say and do have a purpose. When we show up, we want to be there. When we stay home, we want to enjoy the solitude of our space.
Aging is not just the process of growing old, but the process of living out a life out loud.
Lesson –
Don’t be afraid to age. It’s the gift of life that arrives each morning..embrace it and make it the best moment of every day.
‘ Til Tuesday