This post is made possible with support from AARP Cincuentañeros™ and #WeAllGrow Latina Network. All thoughts on aging and opinions are my own.
My Thoughts on Aging Sin Cuenta
When I was 10, I thought I was all grown up and couldn’t understand why I was treated like a child.
When I was 20, I wished I was a kid again and couldn’t understand how I would survive as an adult.
When I was 30, I freaked the funk out about getting older and couldn’t understand how time had flown by without me accomplishing everything I was supposed to have accomplished.
When I was 40, I felt like I was just getting started and couldn’t believe I ever thought 40 was old.
Now that I’m almost 50, I’m grateful for all every year – past, present and future – and understand that every year and stage of life is a precious gift.
I want to live the rest of my life sin cuenta. I want to live the rest of my life making the years count for that 10-year-old, 20-year-old, 30-year-old, 40-year-old, almost 50-year-old and hopefully many-more-year-old me.
Why I’m sharing …
I was inspired to give word to my thoughts on aging because of the launch AARP’s national #Cincuentañeros movement, which is all about celebrating the stories of Latinas and how we want to live and age.
Here’s what’s particularly clever about the campaign: Cincuentañeros has two meanings. The spelling refers to aging and being in your 50s, but if you listen to the sound of it “sin cuenta” means without counting.
Now, we can all aspire to be cincuentañeros regardless of our age in the sense that we can be someone who lives life “sin cuenta.” We can live without counting, we can live refusing to be defined or held back by age.
But how do we live sin cuenta?
We do it by having conversations about ageism and how it affects people of all ages. We do it by having these conversations with people of all ages. We do it by having these conversations in private. We do it by having these conversations about it in public.
RELATED: 48 Reasons I’m Glad to Be 48 Years Old
Closing thoughts …
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about age and aging in my life. I wish I could tell you that I’ve never been afraid of getting older, but that hasn’t been the case.
When I was younger, I did fear aging because all I heard about growing older were the negatives. No one was telling me about the positives. I had to grow older to learn about the positives myself and now that I have, I want to be a HUGE part of changing the conversation about aging. I want to let others know that growing older is a blessing just like being young is a blessing just like being a child is a blessing. Every single age comes with gifts, challenges and opportunities to GROW.
This year, I’m embracing all the wonderfulness that comes with being 48 years old. Next year I’ll do the same and so on for as long as I live.
Visit aarp.org/cincuentaneros for more inspiration and to join the conversation!
I absolutely enjoyed this read. I am 31 years young and for some reason have been feeling the same way you felt when you were 30. As I approach 32 I keep reminding myself what a privilege it is to get older. I love the concept of “sin cuenta,” I know for sure I need to start living by this. I even find myself telling myself that I need to dress my age because I still dress like I’m in high school. Like, NO!!! It’s 2019 and my age should define what I can and cannot wear. I need to snap out of it. I enjoyed this so much and will definitely try my best to remind myself of “sin cuenta.” Thank you for this reina!
Yeah, we all need to let go of those antiquated notions of “acting our age.” They are ridiculous and only have power over us because we let them.