How to Deal with Getting Older

Too young, then too old. What happened to feeling ready?

Photo by Rana Sawalha on Unsplash

I’m 43. Being over 40 used to bother me, I felt old. Ancient, in fact. Weird thoughts crept into my middle-aged mind; thoughts about becoming frail, looking aged, getting ill, being redundant to society and being unattractive to the opposite sex.

If you’re on the pre-40 side of things, good for you, but to be clear, and as a warning, this age milestone hits hard. The day itself is just another day, and there’s no real difference from when you were 37, 38 or 39. It’s more the insidious realisation of your age that begins to consume your thoughts, to colour and taint them. I’d hear about a 40 year old man on the news and picture someone old and passed it. I’d want to start a new hobby but think “what’s the point, I’ll never master it now.” That sort of thing.

Yep, getting older can be challenging to your self-respect. No doubt.

But I’ve realised some things about ageing that have helped me adjust to this new period of life and I want to share them with you. Here’s the first.

It’s not a new period of life, it’s the same life

Time is a human construct. Not the metaphysical passing of time towards entropy, that shit is real, and one day the…