George, do you think perhaps that one of the differences between us is that we are at different life stages?
I at least hope that by the time I am sixty-eight, I will have morphed into a woman who has accepted illness and death and is running around experiencing everything I can while I can. You know, one of those wonderfully alive eccentric women who wear funny hats and travel a lot and have nice, warm happy crinkles instead of ugly mean wrinkles.
Even though right now I am very conscious of enjoying each day, and the wonderful joy NOT of peak experiences but of just having a very nice evening with comfort food, a nice video, and someone to snuggle against, I still struggle with the first signs of serious aging.
Did you already go through this coming-to-grips-with mortality stage, really, or is it an optional part of life? I thought it was a pretty universal stage of the growth process. If it is optional, what mind frame protects against it? Is not thinking about aging, not grieving for what is ending, healthy and an advanced state of consciousness, or is it just a form of denial?
I do think all the things I go through eventually lead to wisdom, in a way, and am not sure I would avoid them, even though some of them made me very sad and/or afraid sometimes. |
