Day 4 of A Month of Gratitude #AMOG. Today, I am #grateful for the process of #aging. I thought about myself as a bride at 26, and as a 53 year old this year, and I realised that I am a little over twice the age I was back then. Gosh, that's a lot of years in between! And while we all agree age is just a number, one has to acknowledge having clocked lots of hours in 27 years, filled with loads of life experiences that have made me who I am today.
Getting older is often equated with becoming wiser, though I really don't know if that's always the case. I do believe that life's many experiences teach us valuable lessons if we are prepared to learn them, and we can become a repository of wisdom acquired through suffering, and hopefully, someone who can empathise, understand and offer compassion to others because we have journeyed through tough times ourselves. I look back on my younger self and I shudder a little because I was rather clueless, happily in my own universe and somewhat oblivious to the suffering around me. Also, I had lovely, naturally curly, dark brown hair, could read without my glasses, ran, cycled, played hockey, was skinny and wrinkle free. I was generally healthy, and while I had broken a heart or two, mine remained intact. And I hadn't yet spent 40 months gestating 4 babies and bringing them into the world, and all that that entailed.
Now, I've stopped dyeing my hair, my glasses are on all the time since my astigmatism has worsened, my joints and muscles hurt every day, I don't run, cycle or play hockey any more, I've put on weight, and I have stretch marks and wrinkles aplenty plus a couple of surgical scars. I've lived with chronic illness for 23 years, my immune system has to be suppressed, and my heart has been shattered. And I've spent 24 years as a mother, a journey that opened my heart like nothing else has. It's been an education in itself.
Somehow, I don't miss that 26 year old who hadn't really lived life and was on auto pilot, cruise control through a garden of roses. She wasn't a real person, she hadn't grown, she lacked authenticity and empathy, and perhaps she really did exist a little too smugly in her own wonderful universe. Nothing changes you like loss of health and heartbreak, and two dozen years of motherhood in the mix, and I daresay that I love the present me in all her older glory, acknowledging her flaws, accepting her limitations and yet thriving despite them.
Part of cultivating a good state of #mentalheath involves accepting the inevitable in our lives. Each day brings us closer to death as we age, almost imperceptibly, in every moment. I remain grateful for the aging process, and I look forward to the decades to come. Being at peace with one's age and aging can help us age gracefully. Here's hoping you are at peace, too, dear FB frens, with your aging process. 
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