Fear of Aging: 10 Reasons I'm Not Freaking Out at 55

Last week my almost 3-year-old grandson traced a pretend bandaid across my forehead and said my boo-boo will feel better now.

How do you explain a forehead wrinkle to a 3-year-old?

I’m 55 years old, and these are 10 things that remind me not to freak out about getting older.

Not everyone gets the privilege of getting old.
I heard a YouTuber in her 80s say that it’s an honor to get old because not everyone gets to do it. We forget that as we’re trying so desperately to hold on to certain faces and bodies. We don’t always see the richness we get just from the privilege of waking up every day.
My grandmother had everything she wanted.
At her 100th birthday party, she marveled at it. A wonderful husband, three healthy children, and the chance to know God in a new way every day. She didn’t chase ambition and she didn’t demand attention. Yet she saw her life as something beyond what she could’ve imagined.
The younger women need me more than I need to look younger.
As a woman, it’s hard to see proof in the mirror that your ingenue days are behind you. But what takes its place is the steadiness that God will give you what you need when you need it, and you can pour that into the younger women coming up who are looking to you to normalize what they’re dealing with. When you get older, people actually start listening to you because they assume you know what you’re talking about.
My husband still chooses me every day after 35 years.
I’m not the same girl he married. If you’re the same person you were in your 20s, you’re probably not growing. Yet he daily honors the woman I’ve become as a mother and grandmother. He remembers what I was like in my 20s, and he sees the growth in me, even as he sees the same cracks in my once-smooth canvas. I’m beyond blessed to have his love.
Being a grandmother is the closest thing to being a rock star.
My grandsons call me GiGi. When I visit, they scream my name and run toward me for a hug. When I leave, they cry out, “please don’t go!” When they get in trouble with mom or dad, they call my name as if to conjure me right out of the ether to save them from their punishment. (That one mystifies me, but I love it.) They don’t care how old I am, as long as I show up. And I show up with cookies.
Instead of robbing me of my youth, my 55 years have equipped me for what’s to come.
I’ve been through four industries in my career, and I’ve worked in some of the toughest places. I’ve learned everything from web design and photography, to corporate communications, to therapy and how to run a successful eBay business. I’ve forgotten more than most know about many subjects, which positions me perfectly for my future. The cracks in the canvas are the proof of that, not the cost.
God let me take a breath this morning. And He let me take that breath in the United States of America.
If I choose to work hard and trust Him, there’s no opportunity off limits to me. I can lean into my gifts in ways that weren’t possible even a decade ago. What could I look back on when I’m 85 and be blown away by?
What I’ve lost in elasticity I’ve gained in clarity.
I know so much more about myself now and I understand why I’ve acted the way I have before. I know what I’ve tried to protect, and I’ve faced the decisions I made that hid the best part of me for so many years. I have so much more compassion for myself and I don’t fault myself for not knowing what I didn’t know. It takes some time under your belt to get to that place.
Aging gives me more time to share what I’ve learned.
I love to share information that I think might help people grow. This is how I get my ho-ho’s from life. Getting older gives me more time to do that in a way that respects the life I’ve lived and helps others discover how to do the same.
Trying not to age uses energy better spent on actually building something.
Aging will happen, no matter how much money and time you spend on yourself. Instead of twisting and pulling trying to stave it off, your energy is better served building something that pulls at least 30 years of adult experience together into something unique and purposeful.

Proverbs 16:31

The Bible says in Proverbs 16:31 that “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life.”

Well, I don’t even have gray hair yet 😉 so I’m still on the left side of the aging bell curve.

But I’m doing my best to live a life that honors God no matter my age.

The forehead wrinkle isn’t a boo-boo. It’s a record of choices, attitudes, and time spent trying to get it right. Getting older isn’t the problem most people think it is.

The problem is spending the years you do get trying not to have those years.