Why Aging Feels Scary

Hi everyone,

From the cradle to the grave life is a process and aging is a part of that. When we are kids, we learn to be adults making our own rules and doing our own thing. As we become adults we realize that we have more rules and responsibilities at this stage of life than we ever did as a child, so we spend all of our time wishing we hadn’t wished the time away! The thought of retirement to some people is a frightening one. 

We associate aging with illness, death, and everything that involves being lonely. It’s quite a terrifying prospect when you’re young and vibrant and vital, but you can still be vibrant and vital even as you age. You may be rushing to start treating crow’s feet with Botox or getting a nip and a tuck here and there to prevent the aging process, but it can be helpful to understand why you are so afraid of aging in the first place. It’s a process that’s inevitable, so here are some of the reasons you might be afraid of it and what you can do to help.

• The biological clock goes tick, tick, tock. You’ll hear people talk about this and mostly this conversation is geared toward women, especially those who are reaching the peak of their childbearing years. The biological clock can make you feel old even if you aren’t yet there. Your chances of having a child with a genetic defect increase when you’re over 35, and yet there are women having babies late into their 40s these days because they are using their 20s and their 30s to establish themselves financially and give themselves security. If you haven’t started a family yet, you may feel like aging is terrifying because it’s going so fast. Instead of panicking about that, you should start thinking about your options in terms of whether you want a family in the first place rather than rushing to have one just because you’re scared.

• Illness is not a nice thought. When you consider the elderly people in your life, how many of them deal with long-term illnesses such as cancer? The chance of developing diseases increases as we get older because we’re more susceptible to diseases like dementia or Parkinson’s, arthritis, or diabetes. Nobody wants to be getting to that point in life where they can stop work and relax but not be able to because they are too ill or they are too hurt to be able to live the life they’ve become accustomed to. This means that thinking about getting older can become overwhelming. People spend their time working and raising families and they run out of time to fulfill their bucket list. Getting older happens faster than we ever would enjoy, so you have to do what you can to enjoy yourself now and not wait until retirement.

• The economy. Let’s be honest, with the cost of living right now increasing all over the world the economy is a frightening prospect for anybody of any age. However, it can be really difficult as we get older to feel like we can fit in. If you’ve been in a comfortable job, the last thing you want to do is sidestep into something new because you could be ousted due to your age. Yes, we all know that that’s discrimination, but it doesn’t stop companies from giving you a rubbish excuse such as experience rather than focusing on the fact that you are older and therefore they cannot get as much work out of you anymore. You don’t want to be considered an old dog who cannot learn new tricks, so the best thing that you can do is make sure you have some savings and keep learning as you age.

• Aging changes your face. One of the things you might be taught as a very young person is to marry somebody for their personality and the humor and not the way that they look. Looks fade, and they fade quickly which is why procedures such as Botox are so popular. If you fear that getting older will make you less attractive, then you need to start looking at what you are doing for your body right now to prevent the aging process from doing a number on you. When your hair starts fading to gray, or your skin no longer bounces back like a rubber band, at least you will have been safe in the knowledge that you did all you could to prevent that from happening too quickly.

Aging is not something to fear, but something to embrace. There are too many young people on this planet that don’t get the luxury or privilege of being old. If you don’t look after yourself enough, you’re going to look a lot older than you do a lot earlier, so start looking after your body and it will look after you.

Thanks for stopping by,

Xo,

*This is a collaborative post