A CHANGE OF VIEW ON AGING
I’ve decided that I’m just fine my way.
I was working out at the gym over the weekend and as usual doing things my way, which means I was not as coordinated as the more seasoned gym members. I wasn’t as adept at getting machines to adjust to my requirements and two of them I never could get to move. With that too, I was embarrassed and angry at myself for being in “this” particular physical condition that made it harder for me to handle the machines at the gym.
The first machine I came across that I couldn’t adjust I threw my hands in the air walking away saying, “I give up.” In the bathroom my mind came to another level saying, “So what if you don’t have the knowledge or strength to do everything right. You’re 71 years old, you’ve had a lot of injuries and illnesses and your body doesn’t work like it used to. What’s wrong with that?”
With that pep talk I went back to an identical machine to the one I’d walked away from and I did get it to work for me. That’s when the brain really kicked in to gear with a download of thoughts processing at fast speed.
While looking around thinking about the various ages represented there and how each had to have worked X amount hard to get those muscles or to be able to do that machine, the sacrifice and work they put in to do it and so on and so forth, I found myself deep in my own bullshit.
WHAT I DISCOVERED
All those things are absolutely valid for every single one of those individuals in their lives, but that was really not the point. I realized I was playing the old society song of, “You’re so old and it’s not all right to be old.”
I said, “Bullshit. What’s wrong with being old? Everyone gets there someday, in this life or another. So what’s wrong with being old and shaky?”
Bodies age. That is a scientific and medical fact. We can’t get around it unless we leave the earth early or put ourselves in a cryogenic freezer for years. It’s going to happen. We get old and the body doesn’t work as well as when we are young. So what????
What are we supposed to do? Melt down and drain into an old age sewer somewhere out of sight? It is perfectly OK to be unsteady on your feet if you’re a baby. Why not when you’re old too? You’re still alive and functioning. People get it into their heads that when you’re old you can’t do things anymore and elder people have agreed with that idea forced on them for generations.
I DON’T AGREE
I don’t agree with it at all. Why isn’t it ok to have shaky hands and not be able to pull money out of your purse at the speed of light? Why isn’t it OK to move slower than the “pack”. We earned it! We earned the right through our sacrifices and our lives to be able to move and handle life at a slower, possibly broken speed when necessary.
A kid gets yelled at for dropping their milk on the kitchen floor. Is that where it became not alright to be old and do the same thing? All our lives we apologize for our oops and accidental spills and everything else. Those things taught us to be respectful of others and ourselves. So what is wrong with respecting old age for what it is?
Unwieldy, uncontrollable shakes now and then, slow moving, uncoordinated at times, a little spacey, and requires care and understanding from time to time.
It seems fairly simple to me. I just be me and it’s OK. I’m fine learning to operate this body with every change it makes and I will do my best to not beat myself up making up for lost youth. It’s perfectly OK to get old and the parts not working as well at home and in public.
Spring chicken is gone and golden eagle is here now. Take it or leave it world. This is who I am and it’s called getting older and wiser with age. Golden Age.
Please feel free to follow and share.
If you would like to leave a comment, please go to my Contact Page.
If you would like to purchase a Healing Art Mandala art designed and painted by me, Dawn Cheney check out my gallery… Click Here.
These Healing Mandala art prints can aid in helping you process and heal these times we are all going through.
Or contact me on my contact page about purchasing a print of the art featured in this gallery.
I like older and wiser! I think there’s so much fear in our bodies breaking down completely, that when the first signs appear, it can be very anxiety-provoking. And we tend to feel guilt or shame. I know I do. It’s that thing of, “I should have taken better care of myself, exercised more, eaten a better diet!” And so much mental space gets taken up with body-things. I grow weary of it. It’s good to have a reminder that it’s okay to say “So what?” and not make such a big deal about getting older and the physical changes that brings. Thanks for the post! 🙂