Just What is Aging Gracefully?

As someone over the age of 55 this is a topic of great interest to me, I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did writing it.
To some experts and mental health advocates, the phrase “aging gracefully” means to accept the changes that are coming your way as you grow older each day. Why do you usually get that news from someone who looks young enough to be your son or daughter?

To some degree, they’re right. Everyone ages, it really depends on you on how you personally handle it. There’s no way to stop time completely but there is no reason not to do what it takes to at least slow it down. Starting with cutting back on the panicking about every single wrinkle or gray hair you see. If you don’t, you are only bolstering the chances that you’ll succumb to depression and increased stress – which ultimately fast forwards the aging process. Stress is a killer at any age.

But don’t go to extreme lengths to look better, for example – look like the late Joan Rivers did towards the end and stretched your face with so much plastic surgery that you’re almost unrecognizable – isn’t necessary, or a good idea. Nothing looks worse than too much work on your face!

But there’s no reason you have to lie down and take it, either. There are many things that happen to us as we age – not because they’re inevitable – but because we don’t take precautions to ensure they it takes longer to look older.

We go on about our day accepting defeat when it comes to aging and our looks, our energy, our optimism, etc. It doesn’t have to be that way.

These aren’t opportunities to slow down aging – there are ways you can turn back the clock, slow down the eliminate signs of aging.

Starting with:
What are some things that make you feel old right now?

It is seeing lines on your face. There are ways to reverse that if you are willing to either go under the knife or have shots in your face forever. Is it a lack of energy in your body? Again, you can change that so that you bound out of bed every morning ready to take on the day.

What about your health? Do you have “older person” diseases like diabetes? That’s something (with type II anyway) that typically occurs in older people specially if you are over-weight or it runs in your family. Once you realize that you caused it to yourself, you will find the will to do what it takes to either control it or give up and let it help end your life earlier.  It’s reversible if you take steps to improve your health, and it can help you regain your youth!

Aging gracefully should be about loving yourself enough to treat your body and mind with kindness and compassion. Not living with regret, with you thinking all about what should of happen its time to start thinking ahead not keep looking to the past.  It’s about looking in the mirror and seeing how you can love yourself more and take care of things that don’t have to happen.

Life should never be about self-hatred and disgust in how you look or sadness about how you feel. Change how you think is a beginning point of creating a better life for yourself into the future. Start getting empowered so that you can shave 5, 10, or even 15 years off of your aging process. All it takes is knowledge and action, and you have access to both of those!