On Growing Old Gracefully by Cindy Vanhoff
I guess I always thought I would be young! And feel young. Oh, the naivety of the young.
I am approaching my 60th birthday. I can’t even believe I just typed that number! I see all my classmates birthdays come up on Facebook, and they are turning 60 too. How the hell did that happen?
I wanted to grow old gracefully.
Just last April, that meant
Jet skiing
Summers in and on the water
Zip-lining
Climbing Mayan Ruins
Lifting Weights and Working out
Bootcamps
Doing the heavy lifting and moving with my organizing clients
Being independent and relying on myself
Just last April, I found that I needed to change my definition of “growing old gracefully”. You see, April 2018 I fell 40’ off of a Mayan Ruin. I survived to tell the tale. And, perhaps to learn some things.
I still want to grow old gracefully.
That now means
Giving myself grace for my limitations
Giving others grace, period
Being thankful each day that I live and breathe and walk here on this earth
Being joyful about the things I can do
Knowing it’s ok to miss the things I used to be able to do
Having a positive outlook that things will get better and I will do those things again
Being ok if they don’t and I can’t
To do my best with where I am and who I am today
Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.
Betty Friedan
- On The Best Birthday Gift I Ever Received - June 11, 2019
- On the Importance of Routines - April 8, 2019
- On Growing Old Gracefully - March 6, 2019