“Gee, he sure has aged.”
“Wow, she must have had a rough life.”
“Gosh, when did they get so old?”
“Wow, she’s got a lot of nerve wearing that at her age.”
“Does he think no one realizes he has no hair?”
“Why doesn’t she use sunscreen?”
“I’ll never let myself go like that guy.”
“Rethink that outfit, you’re not a kid anymore.”
“I guess he must be a lot older than me after all.”
“What? You mean they are my age????”
“But I don’t look that old…do I?”
“I guess I better think twice before wearing this.”
“I feel a lot younger than that.”
“Wonder if others are thinking that about me?”
“Where did the years go?”
“Who is this person in the mirror?”
It’s so easy to look at someone else and decide we are older or younger or thinner or fatter or more moisturized or more weather-beaten or whatever…and why? Does it matter?
Isn’t it supposed to be about self-love and self-care? How much more peaceful to accept ourselves and do the same for other boomers and those older…without rating ourselves on an “age scorecard”.
Sometimes I really do forget my age, because inside, I don’t feel a whole lot different than I did 25 years ago. At least it feels that way most days, except when I’ve walked up the stairs 13 times in an hour. Then I confess I can feel every year in my knees. (Actress Betty White, 96, said the secret to her longevity was “a bad memory and a house with stairs.”)
But in my mind, I still look at the world as something to be explored and life as something to be cherished. There are new places to go, new food to eat and new friends to make. So really I think my age is a consideration only when it can get me some cool discounts or spare me from re-experiencing a few of the best- forgotten follies of youth.
It’s when I look at another person in my age range and start comparing myself that trouble can begin.
Of course, advertising doesn’t help. There are few wonderful seniors in television commercials and print advertisements who look like real people and wear their wrinkles proudly. Of course, it’s usually a commercial for a prescription drug, adult diapers, or laxative.
Excuse me, but could we please see a few more people over 50 buying cars? Shopping for clothes? Dining out or cooking a meal? Surfing, hang gliding, exercising, or sailing?
But we all know television isn’t real, right? (It isn’t.) If we feel good enough to try something, then we should go for it, as long as no one’s going to get hurt.
So what if you walk into a yoga class and you think you’re oldest one?
True, you will be invisible to some of the youngsters. But there’s likely at least one thinking, “How cool is this…I want to be like him/her and still be taking care of myself when I’m that age.” And let them wonder what “that age” is.
Or if you’re headed to your 50th high school reunion, just remember: when you were in high school, you probably thought everyone else was cooler than you. You quickly learned that was ridiculous, that everyone felt insecure. That’s probably still true. At least now, we know it just doesn’t matter what’s on the outside.
So go for it. Learn it. Ride it. Read it. Live it. Don’t worry about your reflection in the mirror.
Chances are, you’ve never looked better.
ROCK that wrinkle!!
“The mind is everything. What you think, you become.”
Buddha
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