Some may knock us for getting old however maybe reflect upon the knowledge and experiences we have built up over the many years we have lived our lives. Growing old is great – when you consider the alternative! You will become our age unless you are dead, therefore don’t knock us, maybe admire us!!
It takes a wise person to stop and listen to an older person and understand the prevailing wisdom we have (as long as you ignore some of the drivel we also talk).
Us older folk have had a variety of experiences and are better able to call upon wider images from lots of different parts of our memory. We can make more connections because we have more thing that have happened to us. If we have had diverse experiences with a board perspective of problems, the wider our understanding and the better the design of our solutions will be.
As we get older, we are better able to anticipate problems and reason them out more than we can when we are younger. You may quote that younger people have a fearlessness against ignorance however balance this with fearlessness against wisdom. As we get older, we think more in terms of what is meaningful in my life right now, rather than the future, maybe it’s because we realise the future is briefer so isn’t it better to live more in the present.
A few words of wisdom (well you knew it was coming)!
Be less dramatic
Shit happens but it is how we deal with it that counts. Don’t be a drama queen just breath, relax, accept, and move forwards. Stuff normally works itself out or if you are calm, you can work it out quicker with less drama. We can always learn from it later and the good thing is we become wiser. As we get older our bodies make less adrenaline, estrogen and testosterone therefore we find a newfound level of calmness and boy does it feel good.
Don’t worry about the small things or the what if scenarios
When you have been around the block a few times you learn not to worry so much. The things you worry about either work themselves out or don’t happen! Just learn to go with the flow.
Years of living makes you smarter
Don’t expect to be perfect. One, perfect never happens and two it takes years of learning, making mistakes and getting back up again and learning some more to become anywhere near perfect. You will get to know it’s just the formula of life and it’s impossible to have knowledge until you’ve been through the meat grinder once or twice and a few more times.
Get rid of those negative thoughts
Have you heard of the saying negative thoughts produce negative results? So true. We all have different sizes of challenges before us. We are all different and have a range of abilities. Accept where you are and who you are and take life as the challenge it is. If you have a hill to climb, don’t start by thinking I can’t do this or it’s too hard. Set small goals, set realistic timescales and attack in a positive manner all the way along. Accept you may fall over but don’t just lie there, get up reset and off you go again.
Life is about compromise and communication
Compromise is key in all sorts of relationships, be those partners, friendships, colleagues, family etc. People are never the same and have experienced different angles of life. Therefore, no matter how compatible you think you are in a relationship, there will always be compromises to make. Communication is a key aspect as without it how does anyone know how the other one feels and sometimes by just simply verbalising your emotions and thoughts (calmly) it can takes away a lot of the anxiety, complexity, and misunderstanding.
Stop feeling angry and stressed out
There is always two side to everything and often at least one person forgets to reflect and consider the other side. Don’t bicker, say in a constructive manner what you need to and leave it at that. It gives people time to reflect upon what you have said and doesn’t open it up to arguing where people then get entrenched in their own opinions and thoughts.
Think about how your behaviour impacts others
If you are sad, angry, stressed, snappy and impatient (a lot of the time) how do you think others find this to cope with. Yes, we should all have empathy for others and what they are going through however ultimately the only person that can make you happy is yourself. I have known people who start (what seems like) every day unhappy and impact others with negative emotion that brings and grinds you down. Easier said than done but try starting each day as a new day, try to worry less, breathe deeply and to be a little happier and smile.
Be kinder to yourself and like yourself
Become less judge-y, more loving, respectful and be in awe of what you have endured and triumphed over. Give yourself a huge hug and feel good. You spend years developing a personality so start to like it. Stop worrying about what others think, if you fit in, and do people want to spend time with me. The answer is normally yes and others are thinking the same about themselves. It is only when you relax and just start doing, you find socially life becomes much easier and enjoyable. The other thing I learnt is don’t just wait to be invited, start inviting and who comes along comes along and those that don’t well they’re the ones missing out.
Travel adventures 