Pray by Bishop Briggs
Fire by Barns Courtney
A friend and I were talking a while back about people who can't own up to the fact that they're getting older and are no longer a "fine young thang". It freaks them out, and they respond by dressing too young, acting too young, and latching onto friends that are a good 10-15 years younger than them.
Sidebar: I am not saying that you can't or shouldn't be friends with people who are younger than you. I believe that having a diverse age friend group is essential. I have friends who are both 15 years younger and 25+ years older than I am. I cherish them all and what they bring into my life! We learn from people who are in different stages of their lives, but it's when we only have friends that are much younger than us that is a bit questionable to me.
So what is it about aging that freaks us out so much? We turn that big number 30, 40, or 50 and suddenly all we want to do is curl up in the fetal position and start crying for Mommy.
Maybe for some it's because we're faced with our own mortality for the first time.
Maybe it's the realization that it's time to grow up.
Maybe we don't feel relevant any more because we're officially beyond the age group that the media deems as beautiful.
Maybe we feel like life is passing us by, and we don't know how to catch up with it.
Maybe we feel like our spouse won't find us attractive anymore at this age.
I know this mindset isn't exclusive to women, but since I am of the female sex, I can only speak from my own personal viewpoint.
Sidebar: I'm sorry, but I have zero respect for those guys that ditch their current wife for a 15-20 year younger model because their first wife reminds them that they aren't some college dude bro anymore. Honestly, they pretty much disgust me, and shouldn't be surprised when that pretty young thing does the same thing to them when that back hair starts sprouting and that middle age spread can't be hid anymore.
Yes, I know that there are women who have done the same thing, and no they aren't exempt from this rant.
ANYWHO. Vicious sidebar over. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
I hear so many people say "My high school years were the best years of my life!!", and I'm all:
I mean...REALLY?? High school was the best years of your life? What High School Musical Alternate Universe did you live in?
Dude. High school was not a good time for Manda. I was a wreck. Need an example? Here ya go.
(Teen Manda in all her awkward home schooled glory. Lovin' that precise middle part by the way.)
Zits, hormones screaming off the walls, the angst, the feeling of never fitting in, the horrendous fashion sense, the complete lack of ability to talk to the opposite sex without coming off as either stuck up or a complete blathering idiot (teen me and now me still have that sad trait in common...sigh...), bemoaning my singleness, and list goes on.
Maybe the high school years were your best because you were popular, an accomplished athlete, or a fantastic scholar. Now that time is over, those accolades don't really mean much, and you feel out of step and irrelevant.
If the high school years were truly your best years, then honey, you need to grow up.
Then you have the ones who say "Oh my garsh, my 20's were the absolute best!!"
And again, there's me going "Really?? Your 20's were the best?"
My 20's, especially the early ones, were only slightly better than my teens. Need more proof? Here's early 20's me.
(I seriously thought my Big Bird Yellow windbreaker was the height of fashion, and the Ichthys choker pendant was the ultimate accessory...of course it was 2001 so some concessions must be made.)
Still no fashion sense, of course it didn't help that plus sized clothing still looked like stuff a grandmother would wear, still single as heck, not so angsty (thank heavens), but still super awkward.
In my later 20's I started to feel more comfortable in my own skin, but it wasn't until my 30th birthday that I finally felt freed from my cage.
(Same, Dobby. Same.)
Which is weird because your 30th birthday is something that is dreaded by most people. How many times have you heard some call their 30th birthday their "second 29th birthday" because somehow turning 30 makes you "over the hill".
For me it was the opposite. It felt like I finally had come into my own. It felt like coming home. It felt like I was finally becoming who God created to me.
Maybe it was because I finally accepted that I was and always had been a nerd (I wrote a post all about that experience here.)
Maybe it's because I've always been a bit of an old soul, and finally felt my age.
Maybe it's because I stopped caring the tiniest bit about what others thought about me.
Maybe it's because I finally learned, as cliche as it sounds, that age is truly a number.
Is my life picture perfect? No.
Do I have all the accomplishments that the world expects me to have at this age, i.e. a high paying job, a spouse, a mortage, and 2-3 kids? No.
Am I still awkward? Oh my giddy aunt, YES, but now I can laugh at myself over it.
Am I completely satisfied with where I am and what I'm doing with my life? Absolutely not. I still have a lot of growth to do, and I always will. I just have more peace than I ever have about where God has me at this point of my life.
Most importantly, is my fashion sense better? I would like to think so, but those who don't understand my penchant for nerdy tees may say different.
I kid. I kid, but seriously, guys, my 30's have been awesome so far, and I can actually say that I really do think that my 40's, 50's, 60's and so on will be too.
How can I think this way?
I feel that it's because God has shown me that I need to be present in and love the heck out of the age that I currently am. It's a lesson that I dearly wish I had learned when I was younger, but maybe that's why he saved that lesson for now. So that instead of hating the thought of growing older, I'm kind of looking forward to it.
So I'm calling us all to shift our perspectives, and love the age we are right now. Enjoy your years of experience, and don't fall prey to dreading the years to come.
Guys, if we keep wishing for lost years back, we'll wind up wishing away the years God still has for us.
Be proud of your age, lovelies.
(Learning that laugh lines are a gift and not a curse. They're proof that I can laugh at myself, and not take life too seriously.)
P.S. As I was just starting to think about writing this post months ago (sometimes these posts take me ages to write), a sweet friend gave me a bag of Dove Salted Caramel Chocolates aka Angel Food. One of the first chocolates I opened contained this quote, and I was all "I now have definitive proof that chocolate truly is manna from heaven because the Lord is speaking to me through it."
(Dove, I couldn't have said it better myself.)
