And about being vital, being in life, and not wasting time worrying about what you can't control
If being in quarantine has forced to eyeball your aging self a little too closely, and you're horrified at what the bathroom mirror says, here's some advice:
- Fluorescent bulbs are the worst. Change out your lights.
- Break/replace the mirror. Breaking it is more fun but it's harder to clean up and you might cut yourself.
- Don't look up.
- Read on.
In response to a piece I did recently on Being Too Old for This Sh*t, I got some spicy, wonderful, inspirational responses. I can't speak for you or anyone else, but these are just one reason I write. Dear Reader invariably informs, educates, delights, and inspires. I hope you will get that message too.
These folks can speak for themselves:
Ann Litts, just turned sixty:
Since I turned 50 - Got divorced. Got four tattoos. Got a motorcycle license and TWO motorcycles. Dyed my hair purple. Became a grandmother of three granddaughters. Danced the night away at rock concerts more times than I can count. Learned to breathe - learned to let go. Became a vegetarian. Realized I WAS Marian from Indiana Jones & could pretty much drink anyone under the table if I choose to. Abandoned the field in which I grow my f*cks. It now lies barren & unattended. ;)
From setsail:
At the age of 72, I've been homesteading for four decades. Retirement? LOL, although I have enough money/income to do that...it's an impossibility when we grow much of our own food, create our own electricity, use our own forest lands for our heat source (and cooking at times)...The land I purchase all those years ago for a song, and the buildings we have built on our own without mortgages...The only thing that will force me into retirement will be selling out if/when this country becomes impossible to live in any more.
From Eric Guisinger:
Sitting on my porch in a rocker waiting to die is Not An Option. I retired so I could get busy with the stuff I really want to do. I can’t believe I ever actually had time for a job.
From Shirley Willett, 87:
At 60 after selling my corporation, I went on to win a series of engineering design grants from the National Science Foundation, As I turned 80, I broke my hip (I was pushed) and got a blind eye. It slowed me but did not stop me. I’m not ready to die (now 87). There is so much to learn yet to develop faculties and prepare for Higher Worlds – Rudolph Steiner explains this best. And the purpose of the physical world is to learn, and then go onto higher evolution. I’ve got so much to learn.
I will steal this from Ann: if you have a field full of F*cks that are eating up your life, costing you your happiness, and aren't putting your love, energy, time and money towards those things which really, truly matter to you, I might take a little guidance from the above badasses.
These are just a few of the reasons I listen to my elders, my readers and people who know how to live, instead of complaining about what life owes them. They are showing us the way.
Comments powered by Talkyard.