Mind And Matter: Should We Actually Worry About Getting Older?
Ask anyone about their fears in life, and they would likely tell you that getting older is worry number one. Either because they want to look younger than their years, or they equate getting older with getting weaker. But should we actually worry about getting older? Is it something that we pointlessly have anxieties about? Is it a case of mind over matter, or is it mind and matter?
Mind
Yes, it's probably all in the mind, but we have such a fear of getting older that it colors our entire lives. After all, we look to the latest ways to recapture a sense of youth, and we do this as soon as we see one gray hair. But is this overkill? Is it a fact that we have to make peace with the things that we cannot change? Or should we really try and fight Old Mother Time with everything we've got? After all, there are things that we cannot change, like genetics playing a major part in who we are. It can impact our figure, our ability to get diseases, and certain aspects of how we look, including wrinkles. On the article Marionette Lines: Causes, Treatment, And Prevention, it says that genetics can play a major part in those lines that run from our eyes to the mouth, and while there are cosmetic approaches to fixing these little issues, is it about the fact that we need to have some control over how we look so we feel younger, or is it about changing our attitudes so we can think, feel, and (possibly) more importantly, look younger?
We see those people who never seem to get old, and when we ask them what their secret is, they seem to give us the answers that we already know. Naturally, this infuriates us a little bit more, because we can do exactly those things, but yield different results. Sure, diet and the right habits will help to an extent, but surely we have to dig deeper and think about our own attitudes towards aging? And the fact is, if we worry about getting older, we have to get to the reason why. Sometimes the answer is very simple, but if we have fear of facing our own mortality, and worry about the clock ticking away, does this mean that we haven't lived our life to the fullest? Of course, we all have regrets, but we can't escape the fact that the clock is ticking away. And so, we’ve got to think about our own frame of mind and our attitude towards things like mortality, and this is when we will make those alterations from the inside out.
Everyone's looking for the key to life, and in doing so, we may bypass the one thing that actually matters: living life to the best of our ability. Getting older is one of those things we cannot change. And while we can worry the getting older comes with feelings of weakness, physically and mentally, what can we do about this?
Matter
Physically speaking, we're all made up of the same things, flesh and bone. And as we get older, we begin to feel those aches and pains a little bit more. And if we ignore the issues, we could believe that the problem will go away by itself. But as we get older, it's just a part of life that we are prone to diseases. But this doesn't mean that we have to work harder at recapturing our youth, by working out more or trying to prove to ourselves that we can go the distance more than those 10, 20, or 30 years younger than us, it's about listening to our body and working with it.
Take calcium decay as an example. This is something that happens to everyone as we get older, because calcium is drawn from our bones, and as a result, osteoporosis can be one of the telltale signs of aging. But this is easily offset by, not just the right supplements like Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroitin, as well as Cod Liver Oil, Omega-3, and so forth, but it's also about knowledge of what we can suffer from as we get older. Because we can turn a blind eye to getting older, this means that we could ignore the common culprits of aging. Instead, why don't we start to look at these things so we can prevent them as best as we can, so we don’t feel our age? We can spend a long time looking for the fountain of youth or the best diets, but what we have on our side is time. Time to find the right things that work for us. There is an abundance of information out there, and we can go from diet to diet, exercise routine to exercise routine, trying to find the right thing, mistakenly believing that they will all work, when in actual fact we have to listen to our bodies. This is more difficult now, because of the stress we're putting ourselves under.
It's a commonly held belief that many modern illnesses are caused by stress. It's hardly a surprise when we look at the numerous ailments out there that stress has a big part to play. And when we look at our anxieties about getting older, we are, naturally, putting pointless stress on our bodies and minds. And while stress is such a widely discussed topic, this oversaturation of information can mean we don't give it much thought. We accept it to be a part of the landscape, and so this becomes a part of who we are. But this doesn't have to be the case. If we can hack our stress, we'll feel the benefits in so many different ways. And we have to remember there are three different types of stress: physical stress, such as wounds and broken bones; chemical stress, such as viruses and inflammation; as well as emotional stress. But we can spend a lot of time viewing stress as this one almighty cloud that hovers over us. Instead, if we look at our lives and examine the areas of stress that attack is the most, and identify these forms of kryptonite, we're going to feel better in so many different ways.
Mind And Matter
Should we actually worry about getting older? We all have friends that pointlessly worry about things, and we can see that it's wasted energy. But we don't shine the light onto ourselves. If we have little anxieties about how we look with that gray hair, this wrinkle, and so on, isn't this just distracting us from the things that really matter? But instead, if we were to take our anxieties and truly examine if they are worth our time and energy, surely we can function as better people? It's so easy for us to get caught up in worry now, as has been demonstrated by FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) where we see these perfectly orchestrated posts on social media, and we get jealous of others, which is wasted energy. Instead, why don't we focus on the one thing we have control over? Us. Are these concerns about getting older really founded? If we dig down and find the root cause, there can be an unresolved issue we can begin to make peace with. But when we have so much concern over our superficial-ness, and this is the reason that we are worried about getting older, we can have control over this by making positive changes to our lives, inside and out. And this is the key. If we worry about getting older, this worry is wasted energy, so it's time to focus on the things that really matter.