Growing Older-How does it feel to you?
Growing older is a process that we all experience … if we are lucky. And as the years accumulate, our feelings about this process shift and evolve.
I recently celebrated a birthday, and wrote briefly about it in the soon-to-be published Finding Time E-zine. (If you’d like to receive a copy, just sign up here before 6 AM ET Thursday morning and we’ll send it to you as soon as it goes live!)
This month’s E-zine offers, in addition to some birthday feelings, an Exercise to help you discover how you define success.
In the meantime, I’d like to share an earlier E-zine article that I wrote about growing older – and how it affects our relationship to time. Enjoy!
Finding Time to Appreciate the Experience of Growing Older
Let’s explore a topic that many who write about time ignore … finding time to accommodate changes as you age, and finding time to achieve true contentment as you grow to meet these essential challenges.
Aging is one of those sneaky surprises. Intellectually, you know that with each birthday you grow older. However, some consequences of growing older can creep up on you, leaving you without a plan, or even without the time required to make the necessary adjustments.
For example – does it seem, as you age, that projects ‘suddenly’ take much longer to complete? Of course, the slowdown has actually been occurring gradually over some period of time. But your realization of the reality of slowing down can seem to come out of the blue.
The challenge in such a situation is to avoid three types of reactions:
First, avoid denial.
It is tempting, when you first realize that it takes you longer to complete a task, to think this is a one-time occurrence and that if you simply focus and work harder, your original efficiency will return. It probably won’t.
Second, avoid becoming entrenched in anger and frustration.
This is a natural initial response, but as you grow angrier and more frustrated, you also become slower and less accurate, creating a vicious spiral.
Third, don’t remain mired in sadness.
It is important, of course, to grieve the loss of your former level of efficiency as you work to embrace your new reality. By acknowledging and
accepting this, you gain clarity about your options.
The difficulty that accompanies denial, chronic resentment, or despondency is that these responses limit your ability to make functional and appropriate choices.
Instead, acknowledge your feelings of loss, and express them in appropriate ways within appropriate contexts. Then prepare to resolve the issues that arise. This balanced approach will keep you grounded and aware. It will enable you to maintain clarity and problem-solve effectively, to move forward, and to feel good about what you accomplish.
That is your challenge!
And to learn more about the gifts of energy, time and meaning that my unique, Heart-Based Time Management™ System offers and begin your transformational journey sign up for my FREE Finding Time Success Kit. (The Finding Time E-zine is part of the Success Kit!)
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