THOUGHTS ON AGEING



I've been giving a lot of thought to the topic of ageing recently, and how our society treats it. It seems to me, that there is a lot of negativity surrounding the topic of ageing. Firstly when I think of ageing, I don't necessarily think of growing up. I think there's a difference when people think the two things. "Growing up," is more for teens into your twenties and probably mid thirties. Ageing (for me) is when you hit 40, or when you have children (and you're not in your twenties or thirties). 

There is this massive romanticisation around the idea of "growing up," and getting out of that "small town," and/or "experiencing new things" and being wild and free etc. However, ageing is kind of seen as, not necessarily a bad, thing, but maybe something that should be pitied? These are just my thoughts.

There are so many creams and serums to stop wrinkles, and hide age lines and the idea of hiding your age is very popular among people. The phrase, "she looks good for her age," as in she (or him/they) looks young for their age. This implies that looking old is bad, and that is something I don't really understand.

Maybe, it's because of the idea that when you hit a certain age, you can't do certain things anymore, or you can't wear, certain things anymore, or your life becomes irrelevant and you have to give everything to the younger generation. 

All of these ideas are not truths though, and I think we should really understand that. Especially people who are getting to an age when they feel pressured into not being able to do, say and wear certain things.

When you really think about it, you can do whatever you want. It isn't against the law, for older people to go to party's and to stay out late and do things that would be associated with the activities of younger people (I'm sorry I couldn't think of any other way to phrase that!). You can do whatever you want, especially if you don't have anybody to look after but yourself.

Another thing that I want to challenge, is the idea that I mentioned earlier, about "looking good for your age," as in looking young for your age. Why does youth have to mean beauty and why is it desirable? Is it because in general, when your young you're less close to death than someone who is old, and that is something that most people want?

Why can't having grey hair be something to be proud of? Why can't having wrinkles be an okay thing? I mean it's natural and pretty much everybody will have them, so why do we always want to get rid of them and look younger?

If you want to be young again, making yourself look it won't make a difference to your actual age. 

Personally, I think that it's about how you view life. Everyone is ageing technically, and it shouldn't be something that should be seen as a good thing. Your age is just how we as people track how long we've been on this Earth, technically and all of the things (well most of them) that are associated with being young, all of those things that many people want can still be achieved in their sixties.

For example, if you take care of yourself, you can still stay out all night and have fun, or have girly evenings, or go on weekends away, travel, explore and discover when you're old. You may look a bit more lived in, but if you're content, then that shouldn't really matter should it? You can't stop the ageing of the body so you just have to accept it, in my opinion.

"Youth," can be achieved at any age (in my opinion) and I feel that the idea of "ageing," shouldn't be seen as something that isn't desirable. 

I'm not sure how to end this post, it was kind of impromptu, so I'll just say goodnight/good afternoon/ good morning and keeping on thinking and creating (no matter how old you are).

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