Recently I entered my late 20’s, and surprise surprise everyone around me started saying, “You're old now” (it’s happened to all of us), some complained about them growing old as well. This got me thinking about the concept of aging. I don’t understand why it’s a bad thing.
Did I enjoy my time when I was younger? Yeah, I did. Do I miss a time when there were no responsibilities and bills to pay, we were lame kids just taking life as it comes and the most stressful part of our lives were midterms or wishing our crush liked us back? Of course, I do miss those days, I will always cherish those memories and the people from that time who are extremely close to my heart. But does that mean I hate growing up? Not really.
As much as I enjoyed my time being a dumb kid, I like who I've grown up to be. I like all the wisdom that came from terrible mistakes helping me make more conscious choices now, all the hard lessons from failures and heartbreaks, it’s made me grow and eventually heal. I look back and sometimes laugh at how little I knew. I feel secure about myself as an individual in this huge world and I’ve learnt to take the bad days with the good just the same. Everything passes, just like your age and I realised I don’t want to hold on to a version or an idea of me from the past that I simply am not.
The reality is we've all been aging since we were born, the only difference is after a certain age, society and pop culture has conditioned us to believe that growing old isn’t glamorous or fun. But growing old is the most natural thing there is. Yes, Priorities have changed a little bit, but it also puts things in perspective for us. When I look at my own life from a birds-eye point of view, it’s not all burning houses. I want to have a good sleep cycle and eat healthily and make time for things I’m passionate about, give my energy to the people I love, enjoy the little things, and be content and if that means I can no longer party like an eighteen-year-old, I’m okay with that because neither my body nor mind is eighteen anymore. I want to live in the now and make every moment count. Life doesn’t stop as you grow older, it just means you’ve survived a life that had ups and downs but you made it through and now you are ready to read the rest of your story- one chapter at a time.
I’m okay letting go of that troubled kid who wasn’t happy and is very gracefully embracing growing old and glowing while at it because there will always be new little things to look forward to in the future. There is still so much to do, so much to see, so much to grow, so much to become, so much to live, and isn’t that what life is for? To live?
This is Varshini Raaj, signing out, see you next time, and this time a week older!
This is extremely relatable, well written :D