I read this article, Aging Gratefully, in More magazine (May 2012).

Now that I am in my mid 50s, the sense of time feels like a different dimension than what I’ve ever felt before. Plain and simple, the years feel as they are flying by.  And what I know especially when I’m chatting with younger folks is I have a “been there, done that” kind of feeling … a badge of honor of my own life experiences thus far. But still, it equates to “I’m getting older.”

With that said, I actually feel so much more content, happier and extremely grateful in and for life. So much more than in my trying 20s, and the two decades following that included the wild ride of parenting and the self-imposed expectations of “doing it all” and never feeling quite “good enough.”  What I know in my 50s is how important it is to acknowledge having experienced the disappointments, impatience, confusion, pain and sorrow as “good things.” That is, these are required in order to gain confidence, resilience, patience, understanding and wisdom. More “good things.”

So to our readers, how are you feeling about your own aging? Do you notice resistance? Or more acceptance? More good things? Or not so good?

Clearly I am a work in progress. Living in gratitude teaches me to accept myself just as I am… and I actually like who “she” is turning out to be.

May you all age gratefully and gracefully.