Day 262: On Aging

It's interesting to see the difference in opinion on aging when it comes to humans versus essentially everything else. 

Think about a tree. 

Trees have various aging cycles. 

While they may take hundreds of years to reach the end of their life, there are many cycles of change along the way. 

Or perhaps, it's easier to think about the life of a flower. 

Flowers start with sprouts from the ground, quickly growing leaves and stems, and eventually a bud.  The flower blooms and pollination occurs, perhaps even turning into something else.

But eventually, the flower will die.
Slowly losing its petals, one by one. Until all that remains is an empty stock. 

When we see such things we don't shy away from them.
We accept them.
We know that that is the lifespan and cycle of a flower.
We get to enjoy their beauty and fragrance, but it won't last forever. And we're okay with that. 

Maybe this okay-ness comes from knowing that next year there will be more flowers.

But it's not the same with people. 

Our life cycles, though much faster than a giant tree, move much slower than a flower. 

And in the world I grew up in, and live in now, the view on aging is quite unkind. 

Aging is looked at, I think, with fear and dislike. 

With aging comes wilting. 

Our flowers are no longer fully vibrant and appealingly fragrant. 

Looks and color are fading. 

The vibrancy of youth - of blooming - is no longer.

We are taught that life is better when we're constantly blooming. 

But to constantly bloom - to never wilt - is impossible. 

Because the energy required is unsustainable. 

I wonder what it would take for our society to shift to a different way of thinking? 

To a way of thinking in which we can appreciate the beauty in every stage of our life cycles.

Where one phase of life isn't held up as the single thing to aspire to (be forever).

I think part of the dislike of aging comes from a lack of fulfillment experienced in each phase of life.

And with that lack, comes a good amount of fear. 

Because if we're on the downward turn, if we're starting to wilt, there's no telling how much time we have.
And, unless I somehow missed this lesson, we were never explicitly taught how to appreciate the life we have, the people we are, or the people we were. 

All of these things are important for graceful aging. 

All of these things are important for a happy life. 

All of these things are necessary to embrace change and welcome it at every phase.