Aging Youthfully vs. Aging Gracefully

Is There A Difference? Does It Matter? Answer: Yes and Yes!

Welcome back and welcome to JUNE! Summer is rolling in like a freight train and I say BRING. IT. ON! I love this time of year as those of us in Alaska can shed a layer (or five) of clothing, wear flip flops and enjoy the near 24 hours of daylight. If you can, get outside, kick off those flip-flops and walk Julie-Roberts-Pretty-Woman-style through the grass and breathe in the fresh air!

Before we did into this week’s subject, I want to take a quick second to say thank you to everyone who has sent messages, DM’s and emails sharing with me how this podcast is just what they needed to not let their age define them. This is why I do what I do and it means so much to me to know I am making a difference in the lives of others. If you like what you hear, I’d appreciate it if you’d take a couple of minutes to leave a comment here or heartfelt review on Apple Podcasts after listening to this week’s show.

Let’s get right into it: Aging Youthfully vs. Aging Gracefully. I talked a little about this back in Episode #1, but today I’m doing a deeper dive into how Aging Youthful differs from aging gracefully, and why it’s important we tip the scales more toward aging youthfully instead of gracefully with each passing year.

What Is The Difference Between Aging Youthfully and Aging Gracefully?

I believe there are three areas of our life that determines how live our life: our mind, our body and our soul. The difference between aging youthfully and aging gracefully lives in our mind and aging gracefully means we are accepting getting older, we let age determine how we live our life and we start or stop doing something because of our age.

What do I mean by this is? We shouldn’t let our age (or anyone else’s definition of it) stop us from doing something we love. How many times have you heard “you shouldn’t do that AT YOUR AGE” or it’s cousin “you should start doing this because you’re getting older”. Um no, we should start or stop doing something because we want to do it, PERIOD. Leave age out of it (unless you are a kid, then yes, listen to your parents, age DOES matter in making decisions then).

Want to start skydiving at 70? Go do it! Want to go backpacking in Europe for a month at 55? Buy a plane ticket! A person who is “aging gracefully” wouldn’t go skydiving BECAUSE they are 70. The 55 year old wouldn’t go backpacking through Europe BECAUSE that’s what people in their 20’s do. A person with an Aging Youthful mindset would hop at the chance, and even if conditions aren’t perfect, they’d figure out a way to do them!

“If You Think You’re Old, You Are” ~Mark Black

The quote above is Mark’s succinct, tell-it-like-it-is version of the old saying “we don’t quit playing because we get old, we get old because we quit playing”. I also believe that as we get older, we just quit playing. I mean playing like a kid playing. With each passing year as we get into our teens, we add more and more responsibilities to our calendars and stop making play a priority. Want to read the full blog posts? Click here.

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