FACING THE GRIEF OF AGING AND EMBRACING YOUR LIFE

I look in the mirror and see new lines on my face, a bit of drooping in places that never drooped before. I could wallow in self-pity and mourn the loss of my youth.  Instead, I choose to celebrate my years and experience. I reflect on the rich, crazy and wonderful times I experienced in my life – being a hippie in the ‘60s; being a denizen of CBGB’s and part of the burgeoning punk rock scene in NYC in the ‘70s; coming into my own in the ensuing years; experiencing life as an entertainment lawyer, and giving it up to follow my dream to become a psychotherapist. Here are some tips I have learned for embracing aging and letting go of grieving the loss of youth:

• Know that wisdom comes from life experience, not from reading about it.

• Appreciate yourself and what you have learned.

• Celebrate your accomplishments.

• Acknowledge your imperfections without judgment.  No one is perfect, young and old alike.

• Accept your limitations.  So what if you can no longer run a four- minute mile?

• Embrace patience.

• Have compassion for yourself, and for all others on this path called human existence.

• Celebrate impermanence.  After all, if things were permanent, nothing whatsoever would be possible.

• Relish interdependence.

• Reinforce your personal sense of spirituality through the beauty of nature, the arts and life’s little miracles.

• Share your gifts and experience with others, and teach them what you have learned through life’s trials and triumphs.

• Enjoy the quiet times.

• Create a list of things you’d like to accomplish, and set about doing them.  It’s not too late.

• Have a sense of honest humility about the things you’d like to accomplish but know that you may not be able to.  It’s OK.

• Don’t dwell on regrets.  Again, nobody is perfect.  Acknowledge what you’ve learned from mistakes along the way.

• Maintain a sense of humor and perspective, and laugh often.