If you’re all wrapped up in yourself, you’re overdressed…

Getting older is inevitable. Aging…is a bit more complicated. It’s actually sad to read so many posts from people under 30 on here who assume everything after age 35 is this horrible, lonely downward spiral.

Aging sucks when you don’t take care of yourself, stop moving, and resign yourself to a protracted miserable decay on a couch yelling at teenagers on the internet.

Aging also sucks when you focus so much on your appearance and social status and never hitting The Wall, that your teens, twenties and thirties are trapped in a vortex of envy, paranoia, and short lived highs from compliments that you turn into an identity, and spend increasing amounts of time and money trying to maintain forever.

There are parts of aging we literally can’t control. Maybe it’s healthier to focus on what we can prevent/mitigate, and figure out the people and activities in our lives who bring us joy…or hysterical laughter. When you get older, you realize that taking joy in life is a pretty good cosmetic.

People find happy relationships after age 30. People begin a new career path after age 40. People go skydiving after age 60. I’ve seen three 70 something ladies fight over my 90 year old honorary grandpa at church socials.

You don’t know what aging will be like if you aren’t even there yet. Some days, yes, you will have to embrace the suck. But then, you’ll learn the secret of eternal vitality: “Any day you’re above ground is a good day.”