"The years teach much which the days never knew." - Emerson

"The years teach much which the days never knew." - Emerson

Wow.  What a powerful statement.  If I stop and think about it long enough, I can always find something I could do better, faster, more efficiently, with more care, more thoughtfully or with more depth.  Not a day goes by that I don't think, "Man, I should've done this today.  Why didn't I?" or "Oh, no, I shouldn't have said that." I'm sure to some extent everyone is like that.  The old "shoulda, woulda, coulda" statement when we feel like we weren't "enough" on a particular day.

I have spent literally YEARS beating myself up over what I COULD have done, or SHOULD have done, or SHOULDN'T have done.  But the fact remains that yesterday is yesterday, and today is today.  And tomorrow isn't here yet.  So why?  Why do I do this to myself, as I am sure millions of other other women do, too?

As I get older and (hopefully) a little wiser, I begin to realize that what has taken place in my life is what the quote from Emerson says; that if you take all the daily mishaps and mistakes, happenings and life lessons learned, the good, bad and ugly, what you get is a lifetime of knowledge on how to live your life.

I am so glad to be where I am in my life right now.  I am starting to realize that life is to be lived for today, with no regrets.  If I make all my decisions with that thought in mind, how can I go wrong?  That doesn't mean that I'm not going to make mistakes or wrong decisions.  It means that I have to live each day with conviction, knowing that tomorrow I will either look back with satisfaction (knowing I have done my best) or thinking that, "tomorrow, I know what I need to do to make it better."  It looks to me like a win-win situation.  That's pretty cool.

So many people look at aging as some kind of disease or condition.  It's not.  It's a blessing.  It gives us the opportunity to have a better life tomorrow, based on today.  Age brings wisdom, and wisdom brings peace.  What could be better?