What It Means To Age Gracefully – 7 Tips For Embracing Maturity

Ageing gracefully can mean many things to many people. For some, it may be the ability to retain independence until a ripe age, while for others it may mean a reinvention of self-identity or style.

Below are 7 tips to take on board if you’re aiming to embrace maturity – and keep your self respect and style intact.

Know Your Limits
If you’re finding it harder to accomplish everyday tasks, or if you’re becoming stressed and overwhelmed by a physical condition, it can be wise to step back and evaluate your options.

Seeking care or respite can drastically improve your quality of life, and allow you to do things that may have previously seemed impossible. Find a service or support network which suits your lifestyle and individual requirements (click here for an excellent provider of aged care in NSW).

 
Self Care
An important part of accepting and embracing your mature years is in maintaining and developing your outward appearance. As a part of our normal ageing processes, our hair, skin and teeth may need some extra care and love, and there’s no better time to begin a self-care routine than now.

Our teeth are a particular area which may have weathered the battles of time. Signs such as chips, missing teeth and stains can all be remedied by a skilled dentist, with techniques now more gentle and less invasive than in the past.

Social Butterfly
Making time to nurture existing friendships while also embracing new friends can be hard – especially if you’re not particularly outgoing. While it can be important to set aside time to engage in solitary tasks (reading, gardening, exercise), it’s just as important to maintain your friendships and relationships while they’re still intact.

Friends and family members can be sources of comfort and support, and it’s much easier to maintain an existing bond than it is to repair a frayed one. Set aside some time regularly to top up and enjoy these connections.

Taste Test
A benefit to our more mature senses is that we can learn to appreciate and enjoy new and complex flavours. Like a fine wine (or cheese) our tastebuds also mature and mellow with age, and our entire palate can enjoy flavours and sensations that may have once been overlooked.

With this in mind, it can be an excellent time to take up an interest in wines or liquors, or any other complex taste related hobby. Trips to wineries, dairies or cellars can be great social outings and also provide a new way to connect with a community of likeminded individuals.

Embrace Newness
With cliches surrounding age (such as the tired ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’) so ingrained into our vernacular, we often overlook our capacity to make and maintain new habits.

A new habit might be something as simple as learning to save money or budget. It may also be something tied to your behaviour (such as the cessation of smoking or swearing). Choosing more productive and less self destructive habits is a positive sign of maturity and can help you to foster wide-ranging lifestyle and behavioural changes that you may have wanted to make for a long time.

 
Far & Wide
Travelling is another benefit to the extra time and perspective of advancing age. In many ways, the true benefits of travel are really only enjoyed by those old enough to know their value, and the surge in holiday bookings by the over 50 age group reflects this.

If you’re interested in history, organise a journey to a country that piques your interest and soak up all that it offers. If you’re interested in adventures or adrenaline, find a way to safely hone your urge with a reputed adventure travel provider.

Look Smart
If you’ve ever wanted to reinvent or remodel the way you look, choosing to do so in your older years has benefits. Having the experience and self-knowledge to understand your own likes and personal style can help you to make choices which reflect your personality better, while also giving any change a sense of purpose and longevity.

Haircuts, colouring and styling are wonderful (and temporary) ways to alter your appearance, and allow you to channel your creativity into how you look. By refreshing and reinventing your style, you will allow your most current self to step forward, without the baggage.

Embracing maturity isn’t about giving up or ‘selling out’ – it’s about allowing your life’s experiences to inform your decisions in order to live more authentically and happily. Ageing well, and ageing gracefully, acknowledges these experiences, while also allowing you the room to enjoy new experiences and to grow into your best and brightest self.