You can’t help getting older,
but you don’t have to get old.
George Burns
I agree with George. The only way to prevent getting older is to die. I also agree you don’t have to get old. I think to prevent getting old is just to take life one day at a time. Spending too much time in the past is not healthy. It is fine to remember and reflect but if the past is the only place you visit you are wasting today. Go ahead and think about the past, learn what it has to teach you and then leave it there, in the past, and live today. The same goes for thinking about and planning for the future. Yes, some thought and planning needs to be given to the future but if it is all consuming or brings worry it is wasting the life of today.
I am healthy with just a few minor bothersome things that occasionally pop up. Those bothers can put a damper on things but on the whole not a big problem. Then there is the fact of living on an income that is not going to change even though the economy can and often does change. There all kinds of things that are not the best of circumstances and situations that can happen at any time but worrying about them only takes away the good of today. Not that I never worry. Yes, I do worry. But not often or for long, just enough to make me stop and look around with truly open eyes to see my reality for this day. I can only live one day at a time, and that day is today, not yesterday or tomorrow, just today.
The truth is I find being where I am in life is a wonder and I am quite enjoying it. Being the age I am today, for me, is better than being young was. When I was young, I put a lot of effort into trying to be the person that the people I was with thought I was or who they wanted me to be. It was exhausting and I was pretty miserable and unhappy most of the time. When I finally came to realize that was no way to live and decided to just be me, the real me, there were people who I thought were friends who simply disappeared. I guess they didn’t like the real me. It hurt, but I let them go and started my journey, my wonderful journey to where I am now, no longer young …just older.
Patricia's Place 
I think it takes a bit of age…actually a lot of age…to realize we are tired of trying so hard to succeed being/doing/living. Now it is nice because I don’t care if I fit in a mold I once lived in. Thanks for the post.
I think the same as you. I am happier now then when I was young. I think it’s because I no longer try to be who/what others think I should be. I am just me…take it or leave it.
This heartened me Patricia. I needed a good talking to about getting older. Thanks. 🙂
I am glad my musings encouraged you. That being said…I think the aging thing must be harder for someone whose work life was often, if not always, determined by designers and photographers and their idea of what is attractive.
Sad but true. I’m looking like a National Landmark in that department. sigh
You are still beautiful because of who you are within. And people can see that beauty.
I don’t know about that, but thank you. Yesterday was a very trying one, but I turned to acts of kindness to soften its blow. In that respect, I like to think that’s what people see in me. Thanks for the kind words.
Hubby and I have a saying. Don’t let the old man or the old woman in. We don’t either. I see people younger than me that are so very old and they are old in their heads.
I linked this post to Awww Mondays.
Have a fabulous day and week, Patricia. ♥
I know a few folks ten or more years younger than me, and they are old and unhappy. What a waste of time. Thanks for doing the link!
Have a wonderful week.🐱
You have a very commonsense approach to life. I love being older, too.
I try to use everyday commonsense about life, but there are those times when there is some ditziness that shows up.😽
You are a lovely human being – gotta have some fun and wacky moments.
Aww, thanks😽
Isn’t she?
Older is fine and we can enjoy it making it fun too. I completely agree with you Patricia, we can only find peace if we are true to ourselves.
It is all about acceptance and attitude and not letting other people decide who and what you are. Took me a while to learn that lesson!
Absolutely right!
It’s so easy to fall in a pity pot especially when a series (or it seems like an unending series) of bad stuff happens. Yet I always look around. We are doing well. We are on the right side of the ground and neither of us has significant health issues. All things to be grateful for. Everything else is just little stuff.
You are right about the pity pot. Sometimes when I find myself in it, I let myself wallow in it for just long enough to remember there are better places to be. Being grateful is the key to being content.
It’s strange how when we are younger we try to be what people expect us to be. If nothing else, age has taught us to be ourselves and be comfortable with it. Hubby and I act our shoe size (11 and 7 respectively) and if we get a bit carried away, the old bones pull us up short as a reminder!
Hmm, if shoe size is the key to how we act, I am 7 1/2 or 8. When the old bones act up, it’s time for a nap!
excellent plan!
👍