Do you really mean it when you say you hate growing old?
At least once a week someone will say to me “I hate getting old!” Considering the alternative, I would like to get as old as possible, thank you very much. Sure, I know they are referring to the aches and pains of “old age” but wouldn’t you rather feel a some aches and pains as opposed to feeling nothing? I don’t feel as if I am getting old – I am just getting older. There is a difference. You started getting older the day you were born and each day of your journey you continue the process. That does not mean that older is bad or sad. It just means that it is part of the journey. Without getting older, we cease to live so why not get better as we get older? Why not continue to grow and laugh and love and enjoy the journey?
Would your really want to start all over again – who would you be?
I don’t know about you but I worked hard for every day of these (almost) 65 years. To go back and start over would be to change me as I am now. We are the sum of our experiences. Everything we have gone through in our lives – our joys and disappointments, our ups and downs, our successes and failures – everything we have experienced went into making us the people that we are today.
Very few of us go through life without making mistakes, bad decisions, even intentionally or unintentionally hurting others. If given another chance to do it all over again, I am sure we would do the same at some point. We are only human. What makes us the people that we grow up to be is that we learn from those experiences and use them to make us better – more caring, loving, a better wife, partner, friend, sister, daughter and on and on. Only by failing can we succeed. If you have never allowed yourself to fail, you have never truly taken risks. We have all heard that one before. This applies to work, school, love and life.
What is the most significant success or failure that you have had in your life? Even if you wish your life were more like the life of someone else you know or read about – more money, better career, etc., how do you know that it would be your experience if you were able to exchange your life for theirs somehow? You don’t know what it took for them to be the person that they are. You may even tell someone you love that you wish we had only met earlier. If that had happened, there is a real possibility that you would not be the person that you are now – ready for love and ready to accept the other person into your life. We each need to live the life that we are given as fully and as richly as we can. Live in the present and enjoy each moment because it quickly becomes your past. So look at your old photos and see where you have been. Then ask yourself, what would you change if you had to do it all over again? Do you really want to throw it all out and start all over again? This is your journey but it only moves in one direction – forward! Embrace it and enjoy!
[…] not be celebrated as the end of a year but the start of a new year because, as the saying goes “tomorrow is not promised to any of us.” So I share my birthday with each and everyone of you and I hope that we all have a great day, a […]