Psychology: 5 reasons it’s great to get older

psychology
5 reasons why it’s great to get older

As a 16-year-old I always thought that at 28 you would be “fully old” and “really grown up”. Then by the time I turned 28, I found that I wasn’t feeling much more grown up – but neither was I necessarily longing for my teenage life. On the contrary: I was happy to have to worry a lot less about some things, be it the latest flared pants or the last school grade. Unfortunately, life doesn’t get any more carefree with each passing year. However, many things shift over time, priorities and life desires for example.

So why people in films always looked back enviously at their youth is questionable to me. But now it is the case that, in retrospect, we often see things through pink glasses while we look into the future with horror. Don’t we want to turn the tables? We find that getting older is not a curse, it can even be a blessing.

Psychology: 5 reasons to look forward to getting older

1. You are no longer afraid of missing out.

Saturday night on the couch? Hook. Saturday night on the couch without a guilty conscience? Double tick. You think too long whether you will be fit at the party of the year and what would happen if you missed it. We now know that in most cases the answer is nothing. And only do what we really feel like doing.

2. You know what you can do.

And what not. And that that’s completely okay too, because you don’t have to and can’t know everything. With every year of life experience, so does self-confidence, and that is really a very, very good reason to look forward to it.

3. And you know what you don’t want.

We may be able to do some things, but we don’t want to do them. Whether professionally or privately, the older we get, the clearer our boundaries usually become. And while we may skip it uncertainly at the beginning, we notice over time that nothing terrible happens if we also express it. On the contrary: we learn to stand up for ourselves, to say no, and that this will not end the world.

4. You know that you can’t please everyone – and you don’t try anymore.

Speaking of the end of the world: How terrible it used to feel to want to please everyone, really everyone, people. At some point you notice that you have always forgotten one person – yourself. And this learning process usually occurs automatically as we get older and have become more aware of our own needs.

5. You made friends with yourself.

Well, we also need a while to get to know each other – admittedly, it can sometimes take half a lifetime. Often we act according to the expectations of other people, be it those of society, parents, friends, partners … until we stumble – sometimes quite hard – and realize that we are not walking on our own path at all. The process is sometimes exhausting, but it feels incredibly good when you listen to yourself and then realize that you are in control of your life.

Guido