(This is the seventh in a new series of blog posts, the focus of which is keeping yourself sane and healthy in the face of Real Trouble. The photos for this series may, or may not, have anything to do with the subject matter. Just some nice photos from Mexico taken during this time.The one is an elderly couple who were sitting together on a bench in San Miguel, just watching the world go by.)
Like a large percentage of people, I spent most of my youth in one of two states of mind about aging. For the first state, I thought there was no way it would happen to me. For the second state, I just thought of it as something I didn’t want to have happen to me. I worked very hard to postpone it.
Some of the things I did to postpone it were physically advantageous to my health. A few weren’t. I have now completely re-prioritized my age-postponing activities. I have eliminated the unhealthy, and restricted myself to only the healthy. (More discussion in future posts). I still see nothing wrong with postponing aging. Assuming you like hanging out in your physical body for a longer bit of time, you do yourself a favor by running a well-maintained machine. And, interestingly enough, most of the things that postpone aging are also good for your health.
This year I got a very close up and personal look at the alternative to growing old. I am not ready to leave this planet. Because my spirit knew that, my body and mind became warriors. I got to know a whole new person as I walked down this road, and I really like her. Without the undesired experience of this year, I might have reached this place by the time I was 90. This year has been a crash course in my own personal growth, and a good hard kick in my own ass. I was presented with two big possibilities; to never grow any older because I was about to check out to another dimension, or to stick around for awhile…right here, right now, and just learn to love, and enjoy, the process.
This choice was made very clear to me and it was a no-brainer. I chose to live. But, in order to walk into that life, my mind had to stay strong and focused. I had to only see pictures of myself as well. I could only see my future as bright. Nothing negative could be spoken about my condition, by myself or anyone else. I quickly realized how sensitive I am to energy, and I decided to do my best to eliminate negativity (and negative people) from my life. I also learned to picture myself as an older woman, and to see her as vital, happy, and healthy. The ability to picture myself as a healthy and strong older woman was a very important part of my recovery. I learned to look into the future and see the woman I am joyfully becoming. I no longer feel negatively about growing older. I embrace it as a wonderful opportunity, and a beautiful gift.
Margaret Ellis 