Sometimes aging gracefully isn’t easy. It’s difficult to accept slowing down is inevitable. I see myself still in PJ’s late into the morning. I find myself resting between chores. I need reminders that it’s all right to take whatever time is needed…there is no longer any need to rush.
We condition ourselves to rush through life when we are raising families and working. There is no time to rest. It’s go, go, go to get as much accomplished as possible. Balancing children’s needs, activities, meals, cleaning house, laundry, grocery shopping, and maybe squeezing in a little time for ourselves.
Then retirement comes. Sometimes that brings other responsibilities, like caring for parents or a spouse. One day we might wake up and find we are alone with no major responsibilities at all. So how do we accept this freedom in our day? Do we embrace it wholeheartedly or fill it with hobbies or other activities? Can we find a compromise? Can we accept when the body begins to give out, but the soul is eternal?
There are days when I embrace the new flexibility I have in my life, though there is less in my body. Other days it is hard to look at myself as normal. Why am I sitting inside my house in my PJs instead of being outdoors walking? Yes, the pandemic has made me more of an introvert than ever. I don’t get the necessary exercise I need to help with my heart disease and diabetes. But my body rebels when it is pushed. What is one to do?
I have an exercise machine in my house. This is how I manage to get my body moving and my heart pumping. I can even watch television or listen to a book at the same time. One more way to embrace the introvert self.
And so I ask myself the question, am I aging gracefully? Or just finding excuses to be lazy? Lifting my cup of tea this morning as I contemplate these questions while writing a blog in my recliner. Wishing you a blessed day!
Carol Ann Erhardt, Author 