Season 1 Question 9 - What do you love about the aging process?

What do you love about the aging process?

Transcript

0:06

welcome to 10 women bringing together 10 women with 10 thought-provoking questions based on one theme during this episode of 10 women we will hear 10 different answers to this question what do you love about the aging process that's right she said the word she said the word love what what is it about getting older that you love well you know what I really like being more comfortable with myself and I don't mean just myself but myself like my 58-year-old Sarah brain you know and who I am um just like everybody I complain about aches and pains and wrinkles I mean I think we all go through that but I am more confident now than I ever have been of who I am and what I bring to the table I couldn't have done that in my 20s I don't even think I could have done that in my 30s right I love my gray hair I cannot wait for all of it to come in and once it's all coming in I'm going to style it so it's going straight up to the ceiling before we hear the 10 answers remember to take a moment to think about your own answer to this question what do you love about the aging process and don't forget that we want to hear your answers too follow our 10 women series on Instagram to share your thoughts and to read the responses of others in our community visit our website to find other ways to connect uh my name is Abigail dun Moses and I am an educator of adults who heals the Brokenhearted it's almost as if my core is fermenting um and I'm just waiting for the right time to enjoy the wine that's what it feels like it just feels like my core is fermenting that's and it's in a Cellar nobody disturbs it it's taking its time and you know one day it'll be ready um hi my name is Michelle I am a gynecologist bicyclist and someone who loves life in my mind the aging process relates to the actual changes that we're going through as as we get older and I absolutely hate every part of it well I don't like the way I mean between the hands and the knees and the back uh things hurting all the time I mean I can't see anything up close without glasses anymore I've said that the readers tell my patients they're the new tampons they're everywhere you have them in your luggage you have them in your uh you have them three pairs every level of the house you have them in your purses and your jackets and everything so um and then it's almost like your body physically changes like when you were in adolescence but you don't have the ability to say like I'm going to be an adult soon to to offset the changes as they come um the the the middle gets thicker it gets harder to to maintain your Fitness it gets harder to maintain your weight I just hate all of it now that said I'm going to change your question a little bit I'm going to say what do I like or what is my favorite thing about getting older older to me means just I'm just here on the planet more more years so as far as being older I I am a person now that I always wanted to be I am more compassionate more kind more thoughtful more deliberate in what I do and and how I do it um my practice has a set of patients whom I adore and love and I excited about helping them uh through their life I love being a surgeon and I love being able to now transmit that knowledge to the new partners who are coming on being their mentor and being able to to help them become the person that I am now the the teacher the person who will will you know who's doing um everything that they can to help their patients um and so that part of getting older the idea of being able to actually progress into someone that you hoped you would be well back way back in the day when you were busy and you were you know struggling to figure out who you were and trying to to make your way and and having to do things getting through med school getting through residency getting through all sorts of stuff and and never quite being um never quite having time to really work on yourself that I've been able to do over the last 20 or so years and and really happy with where I am right now as far as that's concerned my name is Judy Fowler I am an educator a mom and a team player I don't know if it's a love as much as it's a respect honoring maybe honoring the the process as I jok before my body Athletics as I like to joke with my Kinesiology students sports are bad for us and they kind of look at me funny like you'll understand when you have my and my lower back and all the things that we did would I trade it for any I would never trade that experience you know but I think it is also um you know with the Aging experience for me I think a lot of times we do look at it from the physical but honestly I think it's more of the cognitive and the emotion like it's being able to feel feel how to be connected to things in different ways that it I don't know if you want to call it a maturity or if it's just lived experiences or if it is the leveling up right like it's it's the accumulation and culmination of things I don't want to call it culminating because it makes it mean it's ending but I think it's almost like we can build and culminate maybe we Plateau for a bit and then we're you know it's like we're trying to uh go up a mountain in a way but I think it's also maybe it is is kind of like going up this mountain but it's also remembering to stop and appreciate where you've been and appreciate those experiences or even to stop and look around to see the sights around you in that moment and appreciate that but it's it's it's understanding that path that we've been on that's just building us and making us better with each step and I think sometimes because everything especially now I mean again I'm you know a state employee after this Academic Year I techn have three more until I can retire which I don't even know what that means because I have young children even if I didn't I don't I don't think I could ever do that because always been wanting to work towards something so I think that's the thing I appreciate now about aging is well let's let's be honest how many of us thought that we would never make it to 40 cuz 40 sounded so old when we were like in our 13s and now that I'm I'm 52 I'm like uh I don't know what 52 is supposed to feel like but I'm feeling pretty good and I got 52 more to go you know like it's it's it's an interesting space because I think as we were younger we used to think oh my gosh they sound like they're going to die you know and I'm like I'm I still and I know mentally still feel like I'm in my 20s a lot of times and I just have a lot more life experience I can make a lot better choices and there's not social media to prove that I did anything there's there's no exper there's no there's no proof of it at all that is so true though oh my God I'm like I do wonder I'm like oh my God would I would I even be able to have a job now like you have no proof I am Leanna Martin and I am an aunt a daughter and a friend well I mean the older you get you gain more knowledge more experience those are those are good things and you're able to make better decisions based on things you know um sometimes I'll see young people try and make a decision about something and they struggle you know and I'm like it's not that hard you know for me if the same situation comes up I'm like I got that handled in no time because I mean I've had life's experience to be able to do it so that's a that's one good thing about getting older um and then the scars and the wrinkles you have just are proof that you've lived a long time that's that's good those are good things so um yeah those are good things about the and I like salt and pepper hair I'm waiting for my more gray to come in I actually have some and I I don't hate it I like it my name is Marie Leonard and I am a mom a daughter and an energetic lover of life I mean that the shedding the accepting and the shedding um and yeah you kind of feel like you I mean I went gray early because genetics or whatever um and black carrot just shows it um but around 40 I stopped dying my hair and let it because that's when my mom got cancer and I was like okay maybe I don't need to be doing this um but just sort of feeling a sense of like I've earned my the gray hair like as it comes in and just accepting it and not resisting um because I can't change it so um I enjoy just I enjoy that we have like this like when I see you know grandmas and when I see people who are older just being their eccentric selves and like nope that's just them like if I'm the the crazy lady with all the cats and the dogs and the big Garden like I'm that's great that's a okay thing for me to be if what people know me for is like that's the lady who's going to bring you food like that's a good thing to be known for so I think that's exciting to me is that distilling of like the things that people know me for and that that they're good things and that like I'm happy to do them things um and they're not um yeah they just serve they give up serving other people but connecting with other people my name is Abigail Seymour and I am an entrepreneur a lawyer and an enog 7 still being here perspective um sharing it with other women um I I would say I love it but I feel I do feel really grateful because I I do feel good I think there are people who are even younger than I am who don't their bodies hurt and they don't feel good and so every minute and every day that I still feel you know even one of my best friends just had her hip replac yesterday I was like how was that even B how what she's so young um but I think like oo I'm really glad my joints are still working you know so that's not forever um but I appreciate every day that that I'm aging and yet not hurting you know that's sounds like a strange thing to say but um but I think that you know the wisdom that we get just from still from from being here and all the things that everybody's gone through by the time we get to middleaged to Gen X time you know there's just there's really nobody our age who hasn't been brought to their knees by life in some way whether by their own behavior or by things happening to them and so that type of um experience burnishes you and gives you empathy hopefully for other people allows you to be more present for in life for every for everyone else my name is Susan sasman and I am an extrovert a creative Visionary and a nurturing kind of gal the gaining of wisdom that's pretty cool I mean you I learned so much all the time every day from so many people that I really value that learning and learning to be more grateful for what you have is a nice thing and not being so wrapped up in the results of something to give it your best and to hope for whatever you hope for but not be so connected to the end result that you're devastated if it doesn't go just the way you want it to go um so getting a little easier with life you know being a little more flexible um learning from your mistakes knowing that life goes on that you can handle just about anything that comes your way because you've already been doing that for 70 years you know so and that you don't have to do it alone there's always people around you that will help and um I also love the part of getting older because people take care of you they offer you their chair their seat on the bus they say can I bring you something to drink they're it's lovely I'm getting waited on more than I ever have before and I just love that um Social Security and Medicare I can't tell you when I drive through the CVS and pick up my meds and they say no charge how happy that that makes me that that's more money that I can spend on my pretend band you know so um being cater to lovely caring less about what people think is a big one um you just don't care as much you just don't um you figure out what's important and the way other people see you is not nearly as important as it used to be when you were 35 and 47 and 52 that with age comes the realization that we're all kind of the same we're all in the same boat together it happens to everybody everybody dies everybody gets old um live your best life move towards the light and uh and don't worry so much care a little less that's my son has always said that was his his thing about life um that's why he's so happy all the time because he cares less about the things that most people care a lot about and um just makes his his self lighter and he's able to kind of float through um in a happy way while the rest of us are like oh this is going to be terrible oh my God what are we going to do he has none of that um and I love that about him so uh I think I'm I'm caring less and I love to be catered to and I love all the free stuff I'm a Canadian so socialism right up my alley so that Medicare and Social Security I like it I I like it my name is Kimberly Burke and I'm a human a teacher and a lover well I I like uh sas's you know embracing the Crone I love the freedom that it gives you to just say f it you know like you just I don't have time for the BS anymore and I can shed some of the the stuff you know I'm never going to wear high heels again uh they're not comfortable why would I wear them I'm G leave that to the young ones um so I do love that freedom that it affords and you know I'm closing on on retirement and that's pretty great so I love that um I love the wisdom that's come with it even though you have to kind of go through a lot to get there I I like I like that I like I've kind of become my own North Star um and I trust that which when I was young I didn't trust that but I like that I've given myself that freedom to go you know what you kind of know what you're doing and I don't put up with a lot anymore like I have boundaries like no other that i' never had when I was young that I'm just I can say no now and I say I can say it gracious iously you know thanks for thinking I could be really good at this but no no thank you something I really love about getting older my name is Terry Wiggins and I am a woman I am a mother and I am a daughter I think it's uh given me some Freedom um perhaps I don't care as much about what other people think about me if I express myself so I'm perhaps more daring um I'm continuing to be a risk taker so the aging process hasn't cut that down um that excitement Adventure I recently uh went kayaking with a group of friends and there was a deeper part of the water there in the river and there was a cliff and I chose to jump off 50 ft and I made it it and my friend told me that this mother was talking to her son and said see she can do that she was trying to encourage her son to do it too so I felt like a little role model there for a moment let's erase this one I think it's great I think it's great I'm more generous with my time and my my love and my abundance I feel a sense of Peace most of the time um and I've kind of had a reflection on the past traumas of my life and I've had physical mental emotional traumas like most everybody else has and um I've really looked at how I've made it through that i' I've been resilient with that I've it it hasn't always been easy obviously traumas aren't easy and yet I've gotten to the other side of it so I feel like it's given me an opportunity to expand my experience my knowledge and to be grateful that I'm still here my name is an Sparks hyen bomb Garder and I am a caregiver um I'm a member of a women's organization that I'm very passionate about I am a cyclist um I'm a road road cyclist and um I love being out of Dooors well I think the fact that I am I'm um I have become more more confident you know as I age I it's like I don't worry as much uh about things I I have more more I seem to have more energy I have uh more confidence I I can say you know I can do this I can do this um you know there the fear still Creeps in I still have my you know my doubts and um but but yeah I I mean I I know that there's going to come to a point where I won't be able to cycle anymore you know it just it I see it I see it you know once you get to be about 85 you don't see a lot of cyclists out there so I know that uh I'll have to turn to other things and and find interest in other things that maybe I'm not doing now um but uh I just know I I will be wiser I just I I see as they get older you get wiser and wiser so so let's remember the question what do you love about the aging process how difficult was this question for you to answer after you answer this question for yourself think about reaching out to other women in your life for their answers remember to share your answers with us in our 10 women series on Instagram we can't wait to read your answers and speaking of answers we've actually got some different answers on our Instagram page that's because we asked all the women's surprise questions to learn more about them join us on Instagram at 10w women series to hear their answers we hope you will join us every Tuesday for a new episode wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts this series is distributed both as an audio only and a YouTube video format to allow you to enjoy each episode your preferred way be sure to visit our website at www sassy.com to learn more about this series and all all the places you can find us 10 women is a production of sassan media Amy Brown and Sarah Howard producers feel free to send us an email at sasam media gmail.com special thanks to the women of season 1 Kimberly Burke Judy Fowler Michelle Horvath Marie Leonard lyanna Martin Abigail dun Moses Susan sasman Abigail Seymour and Sparks bum gner and Terry Wiggins