The Blessing of getting old

I am thirty years old. In the past few years, I have become more self-conscious about my age. I have always considered myself to be young but that has begun to change. More and more I notice that I am not the young person that I have always considered myself to be. There are people that I use to babysit that are now adults themselves, I know of people who were adults while I was a child who have passed away and I have a few gray hairs myself. When I think about getting older the first feelings that I have are negative. I have feelings of being irrelevant or being out of the loop. It's almost like youth is an exclusive club and once you’re out, you can’t go back. If you look around, you will see that it is normal to want to fight against old age. I am not talking about being healthy and taking good care of your body. I’m talking about spending your hard-earned money on skin treatments, hair dyes and other beauty products and doing so with the only purpose of hiding any physical signs of ageing. Before I go any further, I would like to say that there is nothing wrong with getting skin treatments or dying your hair. The problem is when these products are advertised one of their big selling points is that they will make you look younger. These advertisements give the impression is that getting older is a bad thing and that it needs to be hidden. Maybe the beauty industry needs to be remined that it is normal for our bodies to change as we get older. If you like using these products because you like how they make you look. Go for it. However, it is important that we stop trying to change our looks just to please others. I do not remember where I read it, but I do remember very clearly reading that getting old is a privilege that not everyone gets. This made me look at getting older in a whole new light. Getting older is a good thing. Being old means you have survived the many hazards that we face every day. During my four years of high school five students passed away. Even though I was not close to any of them I could still feel the pain around me. Those young people never got the chance to be adults. They never got the chance to feel old. They did not get to experience the milestones and everyday occurrences that we take for granted. It seems like every day we hear about a life ending too soon. While getting old is not something we look forward to it is a great thing to accomplish. Getting to an old age is a great accomplishment. However, that accomplishment is often overlooked. I am not going to pretend that old age is good in every way. Many old people struggle with age related health conditions. On the other hand, being old means that you have more than likely gained wisdom through your experiences. You will have to ability to share what you have learned with others, even if they do not always listen. It is not always easy, but I am trying my best to look at getting older as a good thing. When I start to feel bad about my age, I remind myself of all that I have learned and accomplished. When I was younger, I did not have the confidence or determination that I have now. There are some things that just come with age.