Aging is a loaded subject, like death; we like to think it won't affect us, until it does. In this post, I want to focus on one specific point. That point is that you can't reconcile with it, no matter what. Why is aging bad? Physical and mental disability, but most importantly, the loss of potential. I believe that happiness doesn't merely stem from material conditions but primarily potenial. Aging and death eliminate potenital therefore they're negative forces. When it comes to dealing with aging, people are often motivated to go out and live. To expend their potential. My view is that expanding your potential doesn't change the reality of its diminishment. The fact that you "lived your life already" doesn't make the present reality any less bleak. Having wealth, kids, being married, and having had "fun" in your youth (casual hookups and attending parties) can make the present reality any less miserable. Society is based on the lie that death and aging are made more acceptable through cumulative experience and living out your potential, or at least the hope that it will. Compare the life you led to the infinite possibilities that could've been. You didn't nearly get to experience your full potential, only a sliver of it. It's not even about living your potential; it's just having it that brings happiness. The past cannot haunt you while the future is open.
