To a large extent, the advantages and disadvantages of growing old are more of a personal thing than otherwise.
For example, some people look forward to their retirement from work with a vengeance, desperate to finally get away from the confines of, what to them, is nothing more than wage slavery.
Others, however, take a very different viewpoint. What’s going to happen when they have no work to go to each day? How are they going to fill their time? That, for many, is a serious concern.
The list of advantages and disadvantages we have here is really about your own personal point of view. Hence, some of the advantages we’ve listed may seem to be more of a disadvantage, depending on your perspective.
Advantages of Growing Old
1 Empty nest
While for some, the proposition of an empty nest – a quiet home – quiet because the kids have all “flown” away to do their own thing in life – is more than welcomed.
For others, it’s nothing more than a lonely place, where once it was filled with activity and fun.
Fact is, it is liberating to finally be free of family-related responsibilities.
Additionally, having your grandkids around once or twice each week tends to be a lot more fun than having to deal with the stresses of parenthood.
2 A time for enriching experiences
Those golden years are, or can be, an excellent time to do some traveling to places that before you’ve only managed to dream about traveling to.
It’s a time to enrich social and/ or spiritual life, to make new friends, to learn about new things, to discover creative outlets.
Or, if preferred, it’s a time to relax and to reminisce and reflect upon the good (and perhaps the not so good) things that have happened over the years.
3 Rekindling old friendships
As an extension to the previous point, when we grow old we have more time available to rekindle old friendships that have managed to slip through the net.
And to help us, we now have the internet, which can serve as an amazing resource to relocate old friends and family members that we haven’t seen and possibly haven’t even talked to in a long time.
4 Wisdom comes with age?
Wisdom does tend to come as we age, though, in many respects, we get no wiser as we grow older.
For some, we can enjoy a broader perspective on life than previously.
We don’t have the same zest that we had in our youth, but we don’t have the same anxiety that we at one time did, either.
5 Aging for women
With menopause there’s no more PMS, there’s no more cramps, there’s no more concerns over birth control.
Menopause doesn’t necessarily equate to a loss of sexuality. For many, romance can prove to be a whole lot better than before because there’s no pressures in finding a mate and they now know much more about what it is they actually want in a mate.
Plus, you no longer have to deal with “men in heat” who are simply after three things – sex, sex, and more sex.
Disadvantages of Growing Old
1 Slowing down
It’s not all bad that we slow down as we grow old.
We slow down not only in our movements, but, for many of us, we also slow down in our thinking.
No longer can we party the whole night long. We can’t get involved in strenuous sports. We aren’t able to deal with the hectic lifestyle that we previously had – and if we try, there are physical and mental repercussions.
Nevertheless, there’s relief to be had.
We don’t have to endure the relentless treadmill of going to work, dealing with the responsibilities of family life, and keeping up with a hectic social life.
Rather, we can reflect much more and take peace from those reflections.
2 Illnesses, aches and pains
The aging body comes with illness, with aches, with pains, none of which we experienced before.
On the other hand, if you are retired, you can do more of the things you wanted to do before but perhaps didn’t have enough time on your hands.
Enjoying a daily walk; gardening; hiking. All of these activities help us to remain young at heart.
3 Forgetfulness
When you start to forget things more than ever before, it tends to be more of a frustration than a major problem.
Forgetting where you last saw the keys, or forgetting what it is you were about to do isn’t going to change the world.
You’ll find the keys in a bit, and you’ll remember what you were going to do at some point – whether it’s later the same day or tomorrow, it probably doesn’t matter one way or the other.
Growing Old Isn’t a Picnic But…
When you get old, you slow down, you start to forget things, you begin to suffer from aches and pains that you never had before.
When you get old, your vision might start to go, your hearing may diminish, your sense of taste and smell might not be quite what they were.
The skin wrinkles up to the point of looking like a prune, and your anatomy begins to sag.
Really, growing old is not a picnic.
But then, it most certainly does not need to be a nightmare, either. And that’s because you now have time to actually smell the roses and not merely glance at them.
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