What do you think gets better with age?
It’s perfect timing that a question like this comes up on today of all days. Today is July 11th, which is in fact, my birthday. So the obvious answer to this question is…me. I get better with age. Seriously.
I have that Timehop app that shows you pictures you’ve taken and things you’ve shared on social media on this date each year. Mine goes back about 16 years at this point, although there are some years that don’t show up because I didn’t post anything on that day. I looked through 16 years or so of July 11th memories and was thinking all deep and philosophical about myself over the years.
My life has had its ups and downs, as have all of our lives. I looked at the pictures of myself on this date and I thought about what was going on in my life at the time.
Here are a few examples:
This one was taken 10 years ago. I consider this a pretty good part of my life. I was in the middle of my teaching career and peacefully existing with my husband in our tiny apartment. My mental health was pretty stable, which is something I consider when I look back through time. It was a good time. What made my life good then is not what makes my life good now. I’m not a teacher anymore and I don’t live in that itty bitty apartment, which honestly, got to be too small for comfort after a while. Life now, feels better.
This was 4 years ago. Life was good then too. We were in a bigger apartment, I was still teaching, but things were relatively calm. Until it wasn’t. This time is just before my mother-in-law passed, along with our child in a miscarriage that absolutely devastated us. Life is better now too.
This was 3 years ago. I was just about to start my first semester of grad school. I had mixed feelings about it and absolutely wasn’t sure if that was what I really wanted to do. Actually, I knew I didn’t want to do it but was too afraid to change my mind. I’m done with grad school now and life is better because of that.
Finally, this was 1 year ago. I was on a road trip up to Syracuse to spend time with my online knitting friends. I was exactly 11 days past the end of my principal contract. I was officially unemployed and fully believed that life was better.
And now? This was 5 minutes ago. A random selfie in my backyard while I wait for my husband to come home so we can go out to dinner and commence my birthday weekend.
Life is as good as it has ever been right now. As the years have gone by and my age has climbed, my life has gotten progressively better. It’s not perfect right now. I still have to work for a living. Ew! I’m not a published author that gets paid. Double ew! The symptoms of my mental illnesses still randomly pop up and remind me that I do in fact still have mental illnesses. But I feel better equipped to handle the symptoms now. More so than I ever have before. And maybe there will be a time when I don’t need to put in as much effort trying to manage the symptoms when they come up. Honestly, anything is possible for my future. Whatever comes may make my life even better than it is now. Or it could bring me down to a low point again. But I guarantee that whatever comes, my life will eventually be better for it.
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