Our society has so many tropes about getting older: on the one hand, the gradual degradation of the body or mind, loss of vitality, loneliness; on the other hand, the utter lack of interest in what other people think of you, the joy of connecting with younger generations, and wisdom.
As I live longer (at the time of writing, I am 31), I am discovering some benefits of getting older that are outside the standard tropes.
The main one is the ability to think on larger timescales:
I care more about history and its influence on the present, as well as the legacy my generation leaves for the future.
I become more patient and remarkably more determined. Problems or setbacks that would have made me give up in failure in the past, I can now contextualise as surmountable obstacles that are just part of the journey. (“Progress is not a straight line”.)
I see the power of setting goals and checking progress against them, and of organising groups of people to achieve far more than I could achieve on my own.
None of these are groundbreaking, but it is one thing to say them and another thing to know them in your bones.
Just be sure to come back to me in 10 years and ask me how I feel about “getting older” :P (Seriously though, if you’re not mildly embarrassed by yourself from 10 years ago, are you really growing as a person?)