Today, "aging in place" is a popular concept, meaning that people want to stay in their own homes as they grow older. This is a positive thing. However, staying in the same mental place, clinging to the person we used to be, and recycling old ideas and mindsets is not so positive.
Perhaps we should consider aging from a new perspective. Instead of running away from it, why not run towards it? After all, we can’t stop it or outrun it.
This concept of "running towards aging" may seem revolutionary. However, we are not advocating for hastening the aging process; rather, we suggest embracing it. If we do it right, we can expect life to improve as we grow older.
Imagine if we were convinced that every year would surpass the previous one and that each birthday would open up new possibilities in our lives. What if we firmly believed that we would become happier with each passing year? Rather than seeing our 40th birthday as crossing a threshold of decline, we could view it as the start of an exciting and adventurous phase of our lives.
A lot of people are running away from aging in our county. The anti-aging market in the US is estimated to be worth $18.34 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $23.67 billion by 2028. The US is the largest market for anti-aging products in the world, accounting for over 30% of the global market.
At 81, I’ve gone through my anti-aging stage of life. I have bought some of those products hoping in vain that I could hang on to my youth. I lost that battle, as we all will. I’ve learned that the best “pro-aging” products are free: curiosity, life-long learning, and a growth mindset.
Simone de Beauvoir's quote summarizes everything we need to know about growing old and doing it right.
Growing, ripening, aging, dying — the passing of time is predestined, inevitable. There is only one solution if old age is not to be an absurd parody of our former life, and that is to go on pursuing ends that give our existence a meaning — devotion to individuals, to groups or to causes, social, political, intellectual or creative work… In old age we should wish still to have passions strong enough to prevent us turning in on ourselves. One’s life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation, compassion. —Simone de Bouvier
As we get older and the world starts to turn its back on us, we can easily turn our back on ourselves and ruminate on “I wish i had . . .” instead of finding new passions that give our life meaning.
It’s never too late to try something new.
words of wisdom!