by Linda Coplin

Created on: September 20, 2009

"The Reality of Growing Older"

Aging for me has been a fairly easy process. I attribute most of that to good health and a healthy and realistic view of the aging process. I have always enjoyed people older than myself, and the elderly, if they themselves had a good outlook on life. Seeing the difference a good outlook can have on a person whatever their age, is what I believe to be the key in having a satisfactory lifespan.

When I say that the aging process for me has been fairly easy, I don't mean that I haven't had times of stressing out over it, especially when a new line, a gray hair or sagging skin appears. I wouldn't be human if it didn't. But I don't get depressed over it or let it bother me to the point where that is all I dwell on. If I can, I go buy that newly advertised little bottle of wrinkle remover or take that coupon from the Sunday paper on that supposedly wonder-working face cream and try it out. Sometimes just doing that whether I see visible results or not, is all it takes to get over it. Then I get use to my new face, in the mirror, with the added wrinkle and move on. The day goes on just like yesterday and I have never yet had anyone look like they noticed it either.

I believe, most of who we are, is gained from our own internal view of ourselves anyway. If you think you are fat, then you are fat, whether you really are or not. Same thing about being ugly or old. That is why truly old people in age can be so youthful in their thinking and visa-versa. A realistic view of where you are in life, no matter what the age, is so vital to all around health, both mentally and physically. It does one no good to belabor the fact that your youth is gone, you can't do this or that as well anymore, for you will get little sympathy, if that is what you want. It won't change a thing but make you look like a whiner who no one wants to be around. Now, that truly makes you old. Not only are you saying you are old, but others certainly will look at you that way as well.

Of course, television and models have been a woman's worst enemy, depicting that to look differently, is not being an attractive or desirable woman. It's television after all, the world of make believe, just remember...if you know of anyone who doesn't know that, well, you know what planet they are living on.

I also believe in an internal age. I always imagine it being your own personal clock that started to tick when perhaps you were born, but it is not measured in earth years, but coming from somewhere else, your soul perhaps. But everyone's is different, no matter if they are the same age as you. For instance, I have a friend who is four years younger than me, but in her inner self, she is really ten years older. I wouldn't be surprised if she has noticed it. Our bodies all age and predictably so but the internal clock is very unpredictable. When I got past my twenties into my forties, I believed my internal clock was stuck at twenty-five. Not until I turned forty-nine and entered into my fifties, did I feel that internal clock had changed to a thirty-something. So when I hear an elderly person say they know they are old but don't feel it, it isn't because they have no aches or pains, but because inside of them they are truly a different age.

This is why I believe in part, that making too big a deal about one's age is irrelevant. I liken it to an old victorian house. The outside can be showing wear and tear and has to be fixed, painted and kept up but inside is new furniture, new floors and fresh paint. If only we could see more and pay more attention to what goes on inside a person instead of on the outside we might value old age more and not make such a big deal over the idea of being and staying 'young.'

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