Positive thoughts on growing old
I finally made an attempt to sort through some old paperwork today and came across this.
I must have kept it because I liked it. I still like it.
I don't know who wrote it.
Sorry it's a bit long:
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" As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon, before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read, or play on the computer till 4 a.m., or sleep until noon?
If I want to dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's and 70's, or weep over a lost love, I will.
I will walk the beach in a swimsuit that is stretched over a bulging body, dive into wives with abandon if I choose, despite the pitying glances from the jet setters.
They too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful, but then again, some of life is just as well forgotten, and I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or see a child suffer, or even when someone's beloved pet gets hit by a car?
But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile.
I am so pleased to have lived long enough for my hair to turning grey, and to have my youthful laughs forever etched into deep grooves in my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older it is easier to be positive. You care less about what others think and don't question yourself anymore. I have even earned the right to be wrong.
Yes, I like being old, it has set me free and I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am here I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about will be.
And I shall eat dessert every single day if I feel like it."