Whether you like it or not, all of us will age one day. In fact, as we put this article together and as you read it, we’re all getting just a little bit older—but that’s not a bad thing at all! There are a lot of reasons to celebrate the fact that we’re not getting any younger, and here are five of them.

 

1. Worried about disability? Don’t be.

 

An article by Harvard Gazette suggests that we’re not just living longer—we’re also living healthier. This is because of several factors according to a study, but a major reason includes better and improved medical care, specifically “two major treatment areas: cardiovascular health and vision treatment.” Not only do most of us have access to information that allows us to make healthier choices and lead healthier lifestyles, advancements in medicine allow us to address, not to mention treat, conditions that used to impact and lead to disability.

 

2. You’re happier in old age.

 

According to ongoing research, our elders actually recall and enjoy pleasant emotions and more positive emotions than younger people. In fact, the findings suggest that we’re less negative when we get older. This is because wisdom and experience has given older people the ability to better regulate emotions. So that grumpy grandpa stereotype? Toss it out the window because that’s not always true!

 

3. You value more important things.

 

The older we get, the less money matters as opposed to time—which according to research and countless studies, makes us happier. It’s all about experience and wisdom, of which our elders have plenty of. This makes it easier to put things into perspective, which helps them see and prioritise what really matters in life. Money, after all, is earned or else given. But time? It’s infinite and precious.

 

4. You’re more capable of solving problems.

 

According to a study, “despite cognitive declines with advancing age”, older adults are actually better at solving everyday problems than their younger counterparts. This has a lot to do with past experiences: the older you get, the more information you have that can help you come up with strategies, all by taking into account past failures and successes.

 

5. You’re probably more creative when coming up with solutions.

 

Charge it to experience: a higher age number means more life experiences, and these are all useful as you continue to navigate your way around in life. But more than just helping you in the daily, this also means older people have more capacity for creative solutions. A CNN Health article puts it this way: “… older folks have had a greater variety of experiences and are better able to build a wider image out of a lot of different parts of memory. They can make more connections because they have more things that have happened to them.”

 

 

Ageing isn’t all that bad regardless of what we’ve all been led to believe. Like many other things, it has upsides that are worth looking into to ease your fear and alleviate your concerns about becoming a senior. We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to get to the zenith of our lives.