I would love to be able to say that loving, or pain, or mental health, or struggles, or change, or relationships, or the will to live, or loss, or faith gets better with age.
But unfortunately, I can’t say this for every single one for every single person.
Everybody is going to have their own struggles—and that means growing up as well. For me, one things that gets better with age is loving. It’s so much easier for me to love others than it was when I was younger. But that also means that change, pain, and loss get harder with age. When I know someone now, I have a harder time saying goodbye to them than I did when saying goodbye to someone as a kid.
With age comes the responsibility of knowing that life isn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
Another thing: faith. Does it get better with age? Some say yes, some say no. Again, that’s because it all depends on the person, their experience, and their faith journey.
For me, faith gets both easier and harder as I get older. It’s easier in the sense that I have a better understanding of what I believe it, and finding people who believe in the same thing and forming a community around it.
But it’s harder in the sense that when big challenges occur, I question God and his purpose even more. As a kid, I didn’t see the big picture but now I see the impact on me, my family, my mental health, my relationships and friends, and the world around me.
So what gets better with age?
Knowing that you can’t do life alone.
After years of experience, years of aloneness, years of ‘whys’ and ‘where are they’ and ‘who am I’, you get better at realizing, “I can’t do this alone.”
That doesn’t mean that you will get better at not being alone, but rather just knowing it. You can know without acting on what you know.
For instance, when someone gets better at knowing they can’t do life alone, they can either choose to act on it, or keep life the same way.
That’s all I have for today—just some random thoughts on a page. :) Thanks for reading and let me know: what do you think gets better with age?
~Willow

Leave a comment!