Insights About Getting Older
What a wonderful reflective piece by Sean Kernan about some unavoidable parts of getting older. Kernan consistently offers amazing points and tackles tough questions, and this article once again hits the nail on the head. The point that stuck with me the most was probably point 3:
— You never know when you have arrived.
For the third point, it seems that this is one of numerous constants everyone experiences with age and the passage of time. At one point, we all were the kids recognizing older generations all grown up and ahead of us in age. One day, we see those people who were younger than us by years, decades, and then whole generations suddenly growing up and being the age we were not that long ago. After awhile you start to see the paradoxes. Decades in the past are both a long time ago and really just yesterday. Relationships and shared kinships of many kinds can transcend age even though different age groups bring different levels of development, maturity, and insight. And in spite of increased health risks that come with getting older, age does not really have an upper bound for so many life accomplishments and goals, including the pursuit of education and professional aspirations, the tackling of new hobbies or past-times, or even starting a family.
One thing I always remembered people telling me when I was a 16-year-old grocery store cashier : “time only gets faster as you get older.” And as Kernan laments: “I think the brakes on my Sean are broken.” An image that comes to mind for me is that life’s progression of years is like going up an elevator in a large building. For those first couple dozen floors, the elevator may stop at each floor just as a matter of gears that have settled from stopping there so often. So are the first couple of decades of our lives — a whole array of physical changes and growth followed by ever-advancing mental, emotional, and spiritual developments makes these years seem to stretch by much more slowly. But as we get into our twenties, then thirties, then forties, and so forth time does just seem to speed up like an elevator keeps zooming past floor after floor after the first few. You just have to find ways to add more zest, fun, and meaning to each time of life so that it can at least start to slow down.
This can start by finding ways to make each day meaningful. Of course, there can be innumerable parts to this. Some of these may include the following.Make time for meditation, reflection, and self-care. Strive to constantly let the people in your life know how much they mean to you and keep the plant of each of relationship blooming with extra love and care. Give thanks to what is Divine at the heart of things for the unlimited blessings unfolding each second. I am hardly scratching the surface.
