Ageing Series - Acceptance

It can often seem difficult to see someone fight ageing so ferociously. To attempt to hide their age through changing themselves physically, or acting differently. Yet, I can often feel the same drive within myself. And it is easy to imagine it being a stronger, more desperate drive.

With youth comes your peak, in many ways. Physically and mentally, you are stronger, faster, sharper. In fact, your brain literally shrinks at quite a rate as your age progresses. You are much more prone to illness and disease, especially after a younger life on an artery clogging diet. You are perceived by some, too, often as old in your values and knowledge and, therefore, not of much use to society.

There are benefits, however, often overlooked that can be embraced and enjoyed. I often hear with age comes both a slower pace of life and increased patience. A slower pace of life is accompanied by a reduction in stress – with no need to accumulate stuff, to prove yourself, to “keep up” with friends and neighbours, life can easily seem more at ease. In this way, you can focus on the things that bring joy, not because they demonstrate your status or advancement, but simply because they are enjoyable intrinsically. As your age increases, your concept of time also changes. At a younger age, a year feels like an incredibly long time, but as you get older the years seem much shorter. In this way, hobbies and projects that require patience are much more appealing.

There is a stereotypical view of people of an older age, which usually involved hobbies such as gardening and knitting. Perhaps, these are tasks that were enjoyed by that generation when they were younger. However, it seems that these are activities that, even as other generations get older, become more appealing. So, maybe there is something in these activities embracing a slower pace of life and patience, that make them more enjoyable as we age.

To fight you ageing, is to suppress your self, and there is no happiness to be gained down this path, just jealousy, bitterness and disappointment. But to embrace it, to truly accept ageing and the person you are always becoming, is to slow down, to see the world around you through a different lens. Additionally, to accept it is to be comfortable in who you are. This exudes confidence, knowledge and wisdom, which is attractive to others, who desire such comforts in themselves.

We are always becoming what we are, and what we are is never known until our lives come to their end. So, embrace the process and accept your constant, inevitable changing self.