Our society is obsessed with youth.
Look younger. Feel younger. Be younger.
But the only problem is, EVERYONE AGES!!
It happens to be a very big part of our life cycle.
We’ve created a society that makes aging into some horrible misfortune. If you haven’t started a skin care regime by the time you’re nineteen, you’re already behind! Don’t you know you’re losing collagen by the second? You better go get yourself some face cream with peptides stat.
But growing older is a privilege, not a problem.
Yes, a privilege. Not everyone gets to do it.
Those lines that frame your face and that skin that has some wear and tear are signs of a life lived, darn it! It’s decades of existence and vivacity and experience. Of course, you should have some marks to show for it. And although aches and pains become more prevalent and we lose some of the mobility and luxury of youth, both physically and mentally, it’s a concession that should be treated with admiration for the life that was lived and hard fought.
We may sparkle in our youth, but we don’t have to lose our shine as we age. If anything, we are more multifaceted with more angles to flicker and flash.
Wouldn’t it be nice if growing older was treated like a precious gift that held wonderment and as each layer of wrapping was peeled off, what enfolded was viewed with great admiration?
That after all the beautifully decorated wrapping was removed and the ornamented bows were untied, what was left behind was far more exquisite than the faded beauty of its packaging?
Wouldn’t it be nice if looking older was a sign you are like an aged wine, full of depth and layers that only come from living through decades of hard winters and plentiful summers that all add up to a truly seasoned life?
Wouldn’t it be nice if age spots were treated like Cindy Crawford’s famous mouth mole and everybody wanted them? I mean, that would be really great since I just noticed my first one. But seriously, it’s time we take a full loop around society’s traffic circle of thought when it comes to aging.
What if we started embracing instead of replacing our wrinkles? What if we made gray hairs that special something you can’t wait to grow into, like say how thirteen year old girls feel about training bras? Maybe you even get jealous a little when your mid-twentyish girlfriends get their first one before you. Too much? Okay, baby steps. But, come on– life doesn’t end when youth starts to fade. Think Velveteen rabbit. It’s only when the new is worn off that things get real.
Click here to finish reading about the 7 benefits of growing older in my latest post from Her View From Home!
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