5 Positive Ways to Think About Aging

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The later years in a person’s life are called the “Golden Years.” These are the years where you are free of the rat race and the daily grind. Instead, your days are filled with the laughter of grandchildren, the twittering of birds on a window ledge outside and lazy mornings spent lingering over a cup of coffee with your spouse. The little moments that you used to have to enjoy quickly before dashing off to work, a PTA meeting, soccer practice or a ballet recital now last longer. You can savor those moments.

Despite the joys that come with a person’s later years, some people insist on only finding the downsides of aging. These people focus on the fact that their joints are more delicate or that they can no longer lift as much as they once could lift. They complain about thinning hair, stiff fingers and an increased need to sleep. In doing so, they miss how many good things come with age.

It is not easy to shift away from a complaining mindset, but taking on a more grateful and thankful way of thinking will leave you happier and possibly healthier. If you are struggling to see the benefits of your many years, here are five positive ways to think about aging.

Wisdom to Share

It is something of a cliché, but the older you are the more wisdom you have to share. While you may no longer be the expert on technology, cars or pop culture, you do know a great deal about more ageless topics. You know about love. You know about loss. You know the joys and challenges of raising a child. You know what it feels like when you realize that the person you are eating dinner with is the one with whom you want to spend the rest of your life. You know how it feels to lay those you love to rest and trust their souls to God. You know how it feels to watch the child you raised from birth leave home to follow her own dreams. This sort of information does not change overtime like phones or computers. Humans will always wonder about love and always suffer from loss. This is where you can offer your hard won wisdom, and help a grandchild embrace love or deal with a loss suffered too young.

Love to Spread

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It is an intrinsic human need to be loved and to love in return. Age does not rob you of that fundamental human need, nor does it prevent you from sharing your love. If anything, age might make loving easier. You have enough experience with the world to know why your grandchild might seem to be pushing you away, so you do not take it personally. You know how to be close to someone and fill their life with love. You also know how to love from a distance. Painful though it may be, you also understand tough love. You can show all three of these yourself or counsel your child on them. You can help a distressed parent understand why your grandchild suddenly seems to not want mom or dad around. You can help your struggling child stay strong and continue with necessary tough love instead of caving to their child’s pleas. You know your way around love, you know how to share it and you can help others learn to do the same.

Think Like a Child

Children tend to see the best in everyone and everything. They can find beauty in the most unexpected places, and they often have the most unusual ways of expressing their appreciation of the beauty they find. In some cases, those expressions are almost unnervingly poetic. When you have mornings that you look in the mirror and wonder who the old person staring back at you is, examine yourself from a child’s perspective. Children have described the laugh lines by their grandfather’s eyes as “sunbursts,” and children have traced the veins on their grandmother’s hands in fascination and said they look like “tiny rivers”. Greying hair means that someone got clouds stuck in their hair. Rivers, sunbursts and clouds are much more positive ways to view the physical signs of aging than veins, wrinkles and grey hairs. So, take another look at the person in the mirror and see the signs of a well-lived life rather than mourning lost youth.

Laugh Loudly and Often

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The Golden Years are a time to laugh. There is no reason to worry about whether someone else will think you are strange for finding something amusing or to be concerned that they will find your snorting, cackling laugh strange. No one looks askance at an older person acting oddly. So, these years are the time to enjoy whatever you wish. Laughter also helps keep you young and lifts the hearts of those around you. Think about it. Which sort of person did you prefer to be around when you were a child: the old man yelling “get off my lawn” or the old man who laughed and told stories about his ridiculous antics as a young man? Be the sweet elderly person and share your laughter. Humans are more likely to laugh if someone else is laughing, so be the one to break the ice and help others feel free to laugh. Let yourself enjoy life, and when you feel like laughing, laugh loudly. Do not hold back your joy.

Remember the Best Times

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Your later years will no doubt have many periods of reminiscing. During those periods, look back on the best times you had with a smile. Do not think sadly about the fact that you are no longer young enough to boulder your way to the top of a secluded cliff. Instead, remember the feeling of triumphant exhilaration you felt when you scrambled over the top and looked at how far you climbed. Do not mourn that you will never return to Greece. Instead, enjoy the memory of the sun setting over the Mediterranean Sea. Do not stop yourself from reminiscing, but reminisce for pleasure rather than to moan about the things you will never do again. Savor the memories you have, and think about how lucky you are to have those memories. You can enjoy the memories of traveling the world even as you sit at your kitchen table with a cup of tea in the same way you can treasure the memories of your son as a baby even as you are unspeakably proud of the man he has become.

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The Golden Years are a time of joy, not a time meant to be spent complaining. These later years should be used to spread love, joy and wisdom. Share your knowledge and memories with those you love and treasure every moment with them. Smile as you reminisce over the happiest moments in your past, but do not stop creating new memories. Treasure the image of your granddaughter in her homecoming dress or smile nostalgically as your grandson all but bursts with pride when he introduces his fiancé. The years have given you a great deal to love. Do not let a little stiffness in your knees keep you from realizing what is in front of you or from making the most of the time you have with those you love.