“Oh my god I’m getting old”…
This realization is triggered by catching yourself criticizing the music that the kids today listen to… or hearing that someone in your family that you thought was born last year, is graduating from college, or getting married!
There are moments in our lives that we are faced with the fact that we have aged; we have become those people that as youngsters we regarded as ‘old’. Our own image of ourselves is shaken when we find that how we see ourselves is quite different from how others see us.
What prompted this rant? Well I met a young writer a few days ago and we talked quite a bit and I found her ideas very interesting. Here is an excerpt of an email she wrote to me:
“Older people are usually taken by the most trivial of things, like cleaning their car and organizing shit but your car was pretty messy and that is a complement! It is such a pleasure to meet a mind that has overcome the test of time and haven’t aged, for you have endless energy that I felt through your writing!“
Not only am I an older person, but an unorganized mess too….
My dear young friend, (whom I remember as a baby) if you’re reading this don’t take it the wrong way at all, I really appreciate your comments, they mean that I am actually defying aging on some levels.
Age is an attitude, that is somewhat true. I may not act my age most of the time because of my lifestyle: I’m single, and pretty unconventional in my life and thinking, so my image of me is much younger than I actually am, how others see me is probably very different!
As a young woman (when I was in my early 20’s) I promised myself that I would age gracefully and embrace the maturation process, as I moved on in years I found this promise very hard to keep, “What a drag it is getting old” by the rolling stones comes to mind…
ContraPolitica 