Aging is Inevitable, but Fearing it is Optional

(cursor clicks) (bright music) Headspace Studios. (light music) Hi, friends. It's Rosie here. Welcome to "Radio Headspace" and to Monday. There are certain moments in life that leave a lasting impression: the first time you drive a car, the first time you land that job you really wanted, your first love, and then there's the first time you get ma'amed. I remember exactly where I was. I was at the grocery store minding my own business, perusing the chip aisle, when a young cashier came up to me and said, "Can I help you, ma'am?" It was so casual, just a polite gesture, but something about it hit me, like, "Oh, I'm officially on the other side of something." It wasn't a birthday. It wasn't a gray hair. It wasn't even a major life event. It was just one word. And for a moment, it felt like this little pang of panic. This voice in my head whispering, "Is this it? Am I a ma'am now?" This week, we're talking about something that affects all of us: aging. And I know for some, that word alone can bring up a lot of feelings, but today, I wanna talk about where that fear of aging really comes from and how we can start to shift our perspective on it, if in fact, it's something you are struggling with. Aging is one of those things we all experience, yet we rarely talk about it in a way that feels liberating. Instead, we hear things like, "30 is the new 20." "Anti-aging this." "You don't look your age." As if getting older is something we should all be working against. Yes, there is absolutely a societal component here, one that we don't have time to get into unfortunately, but I get it, especially being a woman in today's society where we're constantly marketed products ad nauseum and getting told we aren't enough. And yes, I've fallen prey to the serums, to the collagen protein, to the face yoga. I said, "I get it." But it wasn't until I came across a Buddhist teaching that something clicked for me. The Buddha one said, "You too shall pass away. Knowing this, how can you quarrel?" It essentially means that since everything is impermanent, including ourselves, there is no reason to fight or argue fleeting things. It's true. Aging, impermanence, change, it's all happening whether we like it or not, and fighting against it, unfortunately, that's the battle we're never going to win. The fear of aging isn't really about aging itself. It's about what we think aging means. We've been conditioned to believe that youth equals worth, that getting older means losing value. But what if we questioned that? What if we saw aging not as something to resist, but as something to embrace? I started thinking about this differently after a conversation I had with my mom soon after the said incident. I asked her if she ever felt weird about aging, and she...