{"id":574,"date":"2010-08-24T03:20:26","date_gmt":"2010-08-24T03:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/?p=574"},"modified":"2010-08-24T03:20:35","modified_gmt":"2010-08-24T03:20:35","slug":"the-alternative-to-growing-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/the-alternative-to-growing-old","title":{"rendered":"The Alternative to Growing Old"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I   don&#8217;t   \tunderstand why people are so upset about growing older. Growing older   is such fun, watching the twist and turns life takes. Even if I could I   wouldn&#8217;t go back to being younger. Life just keeps getting better. <\/p>\n<p> I   do remember when I dreaded getting older. I thought turning 50 was the   worst thing that could ever happen to me. It wasn&#8217;t. What I learned is   that growing older   \tbeats the alternative, and the alternative, dying, is going to come   sooner than later; so why waste it worrying about something we can&#8217;t   prevent. Why not enjoy each year, each day, each moment to the fullest. <\/p>\n<p> If you have not read the book, <em>Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom<\/em>,   please do. It is one of those books that changed   \tmy life. One of the most profound passages in the book is on page 120,   when Morrie and Mitch are having a conversation about the fear of aging.   Morrie says to Mitch: <\/p>\n<p> &#8220;Mitch, it is impossible for the old not   to envy the young. But the issue is to accept who you are and revel in   that. This is your time to be in your thirties. I had my time to be in   my thirties, and now is   \tmy time to be seventy-eight. You have to find what is good, true, and   beautiful in your life as it is now. Looking back makes you competitive.   And, age is not a competitive issue. The truth is, part of me is every   age. I&#8217;m a three year   \told, I&#8217;m a five year old, I&#8217;m a thirty seven year old, and I\u2019m a fifty   year old. I&#8217;ve been through all of them, and I know what it&#8217;s like. I   delight in being a child when it&#8217;s appropriate to be a child. I delight   in being a wise old man   \twhen it&#8217;s appropriate to be a wise old man. Think of all I can be! I am   every age, up to my own. Do you understand?&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The   next time someone   \ttells you to act your age, ask him or her, &#8220;Which one?&#8221; You have been   all of them up to the age you are. And please, never act any older than   you are. You will be there soon enough. Simply enjoy where you are and   how old you are.   \tDoesn&#8217;t getting older beat the alternative? <\/p>\n<p><em><em>In three words, I can sum up everything I&#8217;ve learned about life. It goes on.<\/em><\/em> Robert Frost <\/p>\n<p><em><em>I   promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody   grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old   \tonly by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give   up interest wrinkles the soul. <\/em><\/em>Douglas MacArthur <\/p>\n<p><em><em>Don&#8217;t   \tgo through life grow through life.<\/em><\/em> Eric Butterworth <\/p>\n<p><em><em>The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it. <\/em><\/em>William James <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I   don&#8217;t   \tunderstand why people are so upset about growing older. Growing older   is such fun, watching the twist and turns life takes. Even if I could I   wouldn&#8217;t go back to being younger. Life just keeps getting better.<br \/>\n I   do remember when I dreaded getting older. I thought turning 50 was the   worst thing that could ever happen to me. It wasn&#8217;t. What I learned is   that growing older   \tbeats the alternative, and the alternative, dying, is going to come   sooner than later; so why waste it worrying about something we can&#8217;t   prevent. Why not enjoy each year, each day, each moment to the fullest.<br \/>\n If you have not read the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom,   please do. It is one of those &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deannafrazier.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}