Reading the words of the 85-year-old lady who spoke about “the suffering of old age” made me want to add my two cents. Wouldn’t the way we look at this last great stage of life be a bit like the life we led before? Everything is relative, even the vision of this last great stage of life that, even young people, we only considered with apprehension.
As the word “old age” applies more specifically to the body in a more global perspective of health, I rather consider that this stage of life is that of awareness, the final gift that allows you to unite the elements of your life. with each other to draw his own self-portrait.
If you ask an 80 year old who they are? You will certainly obtain a more complete, more global vision of his personality. As if she had succeeded in withdrawing above the movement of everyday life to obtain a more finished image of herself.
Each of the stages of life bears its jewels. It is about discovering them and welcoming them. The ego, the hope of “finishing beautifully”, even ambition, no longer find their justification when we touch on the self, on what will give meaning to our departure, meaning to our life.
Advancing in age is a succession of small bereavements of everything that furnished our existence, of everything that gave meaning to the small daily life that we led for so many years, to make room for deeper values, which connect us to our self, and allow us to walk in harmony towards our accomplishment. So solitude makes it possible to highlight everything, our past as well as our future, and the way in which we envisage our passage.
The end of life is a necessary passage that many qualify as “the only fair thing in the world”. It is up to each of us to give it its full meaning. In this regard, nature is the best lesson in the art of welcoming evolution, and then the end. Learning to live like her, like all the other lives around us (seasons, plants, flowers, animals) does not often touch the human mind, yet it illustrates the most perfect examples of accepting life as it is. she is. It is the work of a lifetime and the assurance of a possibly more peaceful end.
Isabelle, almost 75 years old
What can be added to such a profound reflection, at the same time as being so simple, except that it can certainly serve as a guide for those who are still looking for themselves and who despair of seeing their life stagnate in despondency, pain, resentment, pride, hatred, finally all these emotions which prevent us from seeing the beauty and the good that it offers us. Thank you, Isabelle, for sharing this beautiful reflection of life.