If it hasn’t happened already, it will if you live long enough. You’ll be going through your life, being busy I whatever way your world is busy, experiencing the ups and downs we all have and maybe some a little more extreme than others. You may or may. not take care of your health by exercising, eating right, avoiding bad habits, and getting enough sleep. You may or may not deal with constant health issues like diabetes, MS, or other conditions that can affect anyone at any age.
But one day you notice the world around you is changing. Cooking instructions on a cake mix box, for instance, are in a much smaller font than they used to be. And if you’re trying to read any kind of vitamin or medicine bottle, forget it. That’s what phone magnifiers are for. Conversations in noisy restaurants are a challenge. People just talk too loudly in public these days, so you can’t hear what someone across the table from you is saying. Throw in some occasional aches and pains without any real cause, skin as dry as the Atacama Desert (thank you, baby oil and iodine or Hawaiian Tropic), and hair that no longer flows back to your shoulders after being out in the wind and stands straight out instead, then you can recognize that you are aging.
As if the physical changes aren’t bad enough, your place in the world shifts. You become invisible in many ways. In stores, strangers once made eye contact with you. Now they look past you as though you don’t exist. Your children, who began to question your wisdom and intelligence as teen-agers but got over it in their twenties and thirties, now think of you as older while at the same time thinking you’re Superman or Wonder Woman (which is a compliment). Yet they think you’re a dinosaur when it comes to technology, a fondness for network television shows, or an appreciation for the best music ever, meaning the 1960s and 1970s.
I confess. I never understood my dad’s love of Johnny Cash nor my mom’s devotion to The Lawrence Welk Show. Guilty as charged.
But back to my original point. With all these negatives, then, is it possible to find joy in this process?
For me, it’s several things. Some might say retirement is the biggest joy, and to some extent that’s true. But not for everyone. So I’ll leave that out of the equation.
The joys I’ve discovered are simple. The feeling of freedom in no longer caring if people approve of my fashion style. I wear what I like, and if I’ve had an outfit for more than ten years and I still like it, I’ll wear it. I’ve found joy in my sons finding wives with whom to share their lives and build their own families. I’ve found joy in the simple things in life, activities that might have once bored me, like drinking my morning coffee on my front porch very early as I listen to the world around me waking up.
Even though I’m older, I’m still making new friends in my church community, in civic groups, and through other friends and family. Old friendships hold a special sweetness and are even more special as time marches on.
When you’re older, you know who you are. You can look at your flaws and acknowledge your strengths without being too preoccupied with either. Sure, you try to improve (or at least I do), but you are able to put things into perspective. While past hurts may surface at times, they no longer torture you. You truly learn the meaning of “It is what it is.”
In the Christian community, the word “JOY” is used as an acronym: Jesus, Others, Yourself. In learning to put others’ needs before our own (something you do constantly while raising children), you learn to let go of your own wants, worries, and fears, and that attitude can bring you peace. Doing things for others to bring them joy is a blessing to you as much as it is to them if not more so.
When you’re working, raising a family, and juggling responsibilities and activities, life can be a bit overwhelming. This, though, will pass, and someday you will have time to appreciate who you are, where you are, and what you have.
I realize this post does not apply to people going through extremely difficult times that the rest of us can’t or don’t want to imagine. This post is for those of you like me, people going through life with occasional bumps and bruises or people who have gone through extreme hardship but managed to find strength to overcome. No doubt life is a rollercoaster of experiences and emotions, and no doubt there are negatives to aging, but there are also joys.
We just have to look for them.
Life As I know it 