Well maybe I am hyper sensitive. I mean after all I am turning 60 this year and that is, so I have been told, something of consequence. But lately I have had the distinct feeling some people want to rush me into a premature old folks home. That my friends is not me.
It was a wonderful moment for me when my daughter gave me a book a few years ago entitled "Granny D". Granny was 90 years old when she walked across America. In the process she had her point of view heard by hundreds of thousands of people. Not bad for someone who should be sitting in a rocker in a stupor of depression as she joined her companions in the steady decline to oblivion. Not for Granny D. My daughter believed I had the same kind of tenacity and optimism that Granny D had. She saw that I believed I could make a difference. She saw in me that I wasn't confined by other's definitions of me. She saw me as a tough cookie.
We tend to forget the quality of aging is somewhat in our power. I am not talking about face lifts here, although that certainly is a choice someone could make. I am talking about being active and involved. Staying at the top of your game. Ask the 80 year old I saw walking in San Diego. Or people who start new careers in their 70s like politics! ASK Betty White!
It seems women get hammered with this aging thing sometimes a bit harder than men. Especially in business. Listen they say wages are still not equal for women versus men, but if you look at women of a certain age versus men of a certain age I think you would be sickened by the inequity.
I cannot lie to you. There are times when I have self doubt. There are times when I think people have doubts about me. However it is not in my nature to believe that things are inevitable. I believe we choose how we deal with life's ups and downs. As for me, I am a fighter. Throughout my life I have defied odds. I am alive to tell you that... I was supposed to have been gone a long time ago.
Its hard for me to hear some say I cannot do something. There has not been one thing that I truly set my mind to do that I have been unable to do. Of course there are many things I have not asked myself to do along my journey. I haven't jumped from a plane. (I DON'T WANT TO!) If I decide I can do something I will do it. It used to be I didn't have to convince other people I could... I just did it. The biggest change in recent years is the number of times I have had age brought into a conversation where I believe it has no place.
How do you look at your aging? To me it is a gift - I don't intent on trying to pretend I am younger than I am, because that would trivialize that gift. I intent on embracing it. Holding my Grandchild, sharing my insights and experience, feeling confident in the person I am becoming, being excited to see what is around the corner and hoping while doing this I make my world happier and the people around me happier too. Care to join me?
No comments:
Post a Comment