Ageing younger
I was invited to contribute a guest blog , but struggled to come up with a subject. This was suggested to me – and I considered it to be appropriate. Not least because people think I am much younger than my years suggest – ( I am almost 58).
One of my favourite quotes is ‘Youth is wasted on the young’ by George Bernard Shaw. Now I don’t pretend to know what he meant, but I do know what it means to me.
I feel ‘younger’ now than I did in my twenties or thirties (teens are out cos they were a blur – see my blog for details). I think this boils down to two things.
Firstly in those decades I was consumed with raising a family and building a home. It’s damned hard work – and there’s always someone to make the grass look greener. More money, perfect relationships, flasher cars etc.
Secondly, in my forties I was taking my first steps back into the workplace and learning new things. So this was a time of personal growth and development. Finding what I was capable of outside the home.
Now well into my fifties I find that my kids have become well rounded and successful independent women. They are my best friends and most of all, value my opinion.
I no longer have any need to impress and am free to truly be me. I fancy in my youth I never was. Youth I believe is always conscious of how others see them.
I also believe that lots of people my age have lost their way, and have settled for plodding along – rather than actually living. They criticise the young whilst all the time forgetting their youth. I know – I was married to two such people.
Another favourite quote/saying of mine is ‘In order to keep someone you have to let them go’. Many (women especially in my view) cling on to their children and overprotect them. I gave my children the skills to stand on their own and face the world – that’s the secret.
I believe that being young is all in the attitude you have towards the young.
I still want to do all the things young people do – I have lots of energy. Unfortunately lots of people my age don’t see it that way.
I say that’s a shame. I shall die old in age but young at heart.
by @AnEasierAffair
