Aging Gracefully. Good Luck.

Let’s get something straight right now. I’m not aging gracefully. I’m aging ugly. I don’t even really understand what it means to age gracefully. I suppose if you stay permanently healthy, have no aches or pains or any worries, it’s easy. That didn’t work for me. And in all likelihood, it doesn’t work for you either. Most of us are aging. (Technically, all of us are aging.) And with it comes the diagnoses, the weight, the changes and the losses.

Where I used to be able to run 3 miles a day, now…well let’s just say I can’t run 3 miles a day.

I recently started getting a lot more books from the local library. One of the books I checked out was “The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully” by Joan Chittister. Joan is a Benedictine nun with a very wise and calming nature. Maybe being a nun prepares you from the very beginning for this sort of thing.

However, her book is not terribly preachy, thank goodness. It really addresses some of the things we all think and feel. She covers topics like fear, mystery, regret.

On the one hand, it offers timeless advice and wisdom. On the other hand, since it was published in 2007, I feel like it misses some of the great stressors of our time: climate, the pandemic, global uncertainty. Was it only 2007 when we were still feeling pretty good about ourselves?

However, one idea she expresses stayed with me.

“…there is no such thing as not coping…The only issue is whether we will choose to cope well–or poorly.”

So every now and then I have to ponder that thought. Is coping well a choice? Am I making some good decisions? Am I learning on the way?

There is no such thing as not coping.

Isn’t that a great thought? If we are going down the road and there’s no turning back…well then. It’s a one way street, folks. We had better figure out how to enjoy whatever bumps we encounter. Maybe it’s not all about aging gracefully. Maybe it’s about aging, adjusting, aging, adjusting, finding the joy, adjusting, aging, etc.

Maybe “graceful” in this context, is about accepting what is and not what we wish were true. What a grownup approach.

I’m working on it.