20 Reasons You Should Celebrate Growing Older

 

Getting Older is not Always Easy

Is it easy to get older? I feel like it must be for some people, and then for others it’s more difficult, though none of us can escape it and it’s completely out of our control.  My early 20’s I never really thought about it, then when I turned 26 something snapped, and I cried, I cried a lot. I decided getting older was something I hadn’t prepared for well. I didn’t like it. From then on every birthday came with celebration and a bit of sadness, ok, a lot of sadness.  Not only did I complain to my friends about getting one year older, I heard other people complain as well.  It was like every birthday became one big pity party.  

It wasn’t always completely sad though, I would be lying if I said I cried on every birthday. My 30th birthday was a blast, and I felt relieved to be in my 30’s, and somehow felt I could escape all the expectations I put on myself in my 20’s. Single in your 30’s? It’s like the world finally opens up and you can do whatever you want!

Reality was though, I still celebrated with sadness, when I turned 31 and 32. At 33 I tried to ignore it all together, I wanted to skip my birthday. Geeze, how dumb is that?!  Then I realized something, at 26 I was SO young.  Why would I cry about being 26?  That year was awesome.  Am I gonna do that to myself the rest of my life?  No. NO.  The sadness has to stop. Some people don’t live past their teens, or their 20’s. Why in the world would I give in to the idea that getting older is somehow sad? When it is, quite the opposite, the most lovely blessing in the world!?

It’s Time to Stop Being Sad on Your Birthday

So right before I had my 34th Birthday here in Guatemala, I decided something, I decided no more sadness! No more mourning the loss of another year gone by, and the added year to my age. No more crying over the fact that I am moving closer to being half way to another decade older. No more wining to my friends about how old I am. I am done with that, who needs sadness when you are simply living life and gaining birthdays…because you are human?

So the reality is if you are sad every time you add another year to your age, you are admitting that being human is sad, that something out of your control is bringing you down. Here are my reasons for why you should celebrate turning another year older, I hope you will agree, and like me, save all that sadness and wining for something that is legitimately a bummer, aka losing a Basketball game, or having your favorite t-shirt ruined.

Reasons to Celebrate Getting Older

1.  You are wiser than you were last year, don’t forget the lessons you’ve learned.
2. You are closer to achieving your dreams, even if you feel they are still far away, you are one year closer to them.
3.  You are alive! If you’ve gained another year to your life, that means you are living, what’s a more happy thought than that?
4.  You’ve had ups and downs throughout the year, and you’ve survived it all.  
5.  You are a year older, so you are becoming better at life, and you make better decisions.  
6.  Getting older is a POSITIVE thing, not a negative.  Being positive is healthy, and keeps you looking younger.
7.  When you celebrate your life and growing old, you are more beautiful regardless of how many wrinkles you have (or are starting to have).
8.  You can love deeper and love purer than ever before, because you’ve been through things, you’ve had your heart broken, and you’ve learned to love people anyway.
9.  You can be more vulnerable with the people you love.  
10.  You are older, so you care less what people think of you.  
11.  You know who you are, you don’t struggle figuring out what you want (and even if you do struggle a little bit, you are getting better at figuring out what you want)
12. Because you have lived a bit, you are better at helping others.
13. Your understanding of how the world works is growing.
14.  You still believe that dreams can come true, even when your own dreams have been crushed or bruised.
15.  You know what it’s like to fail, and you know what it’s like to succeed, and you haven’t given up yet.
16. You understand your parents better.
17. You have more responsibility, but you know how to be responsible. 
18.  You can enjoy a lovely evening staying in, you don’t always feel the need to go out.
19.  You are more sympathetic to people in your life, because you’ve been there.

…and number 20: 

You are a year older, it’s simple.  One year older, at what ever age you are is really the only reason you need to celebrate!  Here’s to many more years!

Talk to you soon,

Ronda