Jennifer Garner isn’t afraid of the ‘gift’ of aging
As a geriatric Millennial, there is one hill I will forever die on and will always tell the young whippersnappers I come across. Your 30s is the best decade. The decade of your 20s really truly sucks. In your 20s, you still haven’t figured anything out, and yet you’re still having to do a lot of adulting things, all while making terrible choices and mistakes. Also, most folks in their 20s still seem to care an awful lot about what other people think. I am here to say in your 30s, that slowly starts to go out the window. You no longer give a you-know-what.
And I cannot wait for my 40s to really come into my own as a human. No I certainly don’t have everything figured out yet, and I suppose none of us really ever will—and that’s ok. The older you get, the more OK with that you’ll be. Everyone is faking it, but most of us do get a little wiser every year that goes by.
And Jennifer Garner is embracing aging with a similar mindset as she explained to PEOPLE in an interview. Garner is 51 years old and loving life currently She told the publication, “Honestly, mostly, I am grateful just to be alive,” even though she has her moments when she’ll reflect on her younger self.
She added, “And I’m grateful for the wisdom that I’ve gleaned out of these years and really grateful to be able to watch other women go through this process of life so gracefully.”
Garner also tries to tell the young whippersnappers that it’s okay to age and that it’s a gift. “Take care of yourself and don’t be scared [to age],” she said.
She’s a mother of three, and she said one of the ways she tries to take care of herself is by prioritizing her own health while also looking outside of herself and looking for ways she can give back, she told people. She also is gentle with herself and allows herself to have “down days.”
“Every year I do something that I love to include people in that feeds me,” she said. She always looks for ways to give back on her birthday. “Last year I went to a park in L.A. and planted trees with my kids. One year we loaded backpacks up to give kids food to take home with them after school.”
“To me that day is about: How am I going to look outside of myself? How am I giving back to the world that gives me so much?” she said.
So how do we age gracefully? It isn’t some makeup product or skin cream. Remember that age truly is just a number, and what matters most is how you give back to your communities, give yourself grace, and throw as much self care in there as you can.
