With Age Comes Wisdom: 15 Things That Get Better As You Get Older
When you’re younger, it’s easy to feel you’re on top of the world and have all the answers in life. As you age, you realize this is far from the truth. Youth has its appealing elements, but so does being of mature age.
Despite all the negative stereotypes about aging, many things in life improve as you get older. There’s a reason why the television show The Golden Girls continues to be popular today. With age comes benefits you didn’t imagine as a youth.
1. Expertise
As you get older, your expertise in one or more areas grows immensely. You become a subject matter expert in something of personal or professional interest to you.
Your expertise could be repairing electronics, blog writing, or your favorite sport. You’ve developed your skills over time and can successfully put them into practice.
2. Personal Style
When you’re younger, you must follow the most current trends to fit in with your peer group. It’s no fun feeling out of step with the rest of the crowd.
By aging, you don’t feel the same pressure to follow the latest and hottest fashion trends. You’re comfortable enough in your skin to wear what makes you feel and look good.
3. Showing Grace
In your youth, it’s too easy to hold grudges against people when they’ve wronged you somehow. Sometimes it’s justified to feel that way, but other times it isn’t.
Maturing as an adult means showing others grace when they’ve made a mistake. Not holding their transgressions over their heads frees you from nursing resentments.
4. Judgment
The more you advance in age, the more likely your judgment will improve. When you’re younger, you tend to come to an opinion based on what’s popular or what others say or do.
Older people have the life experience to look at things more clearly and realistically. Outside forces influence them, and they can form their own logical opinions.
5. Friendships
Building and sustaining friendships with others is harder when you’re younger. If a friend does something wrong, they can be quickly tossed aside, and everyone moves on.
When you’re older, new friendships happen all the time, but you also have lifelong friends who’ve been with you during the good and bad times. Those types of friendships are irreplaceable.
6. Family Connections
Spending time with immediate and extended family isn’t always the highest priority for young people. It’s not a question of disliking their relatives; it’s just that they have busy lives or families.
Keeping family connections alive means different things to people of mature age. It’s a way to show affection for people who are important to you.
7. Empathy
Feeling empathy for others isn’t exclusive to any age demographic. But your ability to consider other perspectives grows substantially as you get older.
It’s not unusual for people of any age to be egocentric and think only of themselves. Something about being of a mature age gives you a greater sense of perspective.
8. Work-Life Balance
Working to the point of burnout happens to young people, especially when they’re new to the workforce and feel the need to impress the boss. That’s not so much the case with older workers.
Those who have been in the workforce for years or even decades understand that all work and no play makes for a miserable existence. They find a way to do the job without sacrificing their personal lives.
9. Self Image
Acceptance and even embracing your appearance comes with age, and it’s wonderful! Worrying about the smallestimperfections in appearance is something younger people do way too often.
Those so-called flaws are part of the characteristics that make you who you are. Getting older means accepting and even celebrating your uniqueness.
10. Decision Making
Looking back at your younger days, there are probably more than a few decisions you’d like to take back because they were made on impulse. Your emotions clouded your judgment.
Making decisions as you age is a much more thoughtful, deliberate process. You weigh the pros and cons before deciding, and you can support your choice with rational thought.
11. Happiness
Throughout your younger adult years, you may feel a lot of angst about your future. Will you ever buy a house? Pay off those student loans? Advance in your career? Get married?
Once you’ve reached a certain age, those events aren’t as pressing because you’ve overcome them in one way or another. From there, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.
12. Confidence
Remember the insecurities you felt in your youth, whether internal or external, by comparing yourself to others? Insecurity is a plague that comes with the territory.
Maturity is the remedy for insecurity. You don’t feel the need to criticize yourself as much for what you don’t have, and you stop comparing yourself to others.
13. Wisdom
It’s only natural you become wiser as you get older. Your extensive life experiences are full of lessons you’ve learned.
Some of those lessons are pleasant, and others are painful, but they educate you. The knowledge you’ve acquired can carry you through life.
14. Sleep
Going without sleep is a test of endurance for certain young people. When you’re older, you don’t feel the need to prove you’re firm with sleep deprivation.
The great thing about aging is that your mind and body will forcefully tell you it’s time to rest, whether for a nap or at night. Older people hear that siren call of sleep and respond to it accordingly.
15. Senior Citizen Discounts
This may sound silly, but think about it: When was the last time you saw a discount for young people, except discounts for children under age 10? Exactly.
Not all places offer senior citizen discounts, but the ones that should be at the top of your shopping list. Those discounts may not seem like much, but the savings add up!
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