What are sad life truths that we learn to live with over time?

Harsh & Sad Realities of Life You Must Learn to Accept

• Most people don’t care about you as much as you think. You aren’t often on their minds. As a teen, I was very concerned about the image I presented to others. As I became middle-aged, I realized this was probably just evolution. You are building a life for yourself, meeting potential mates, building a career, etc. Once you have reached middle age you are typically knee-deep in life. You don’t need to worry as much. You become the older person the young people are seeking to impress if they want to fit in at work. Whatever the case, most people are so wrapped up in their own lives and problems that they aren’t focused on you. It is nice to be free from these judgments.

• At 40 you have permission to be the real you. It is freeing. You simply cannot care as you once did. You are totally over it. You have spent your life finding a voice, developing an identity, and building relationships with others (maybe even a significant other), and there is a mellowness to it. A measure of serenity, even. It’s a consolation for the decline of one’s youthful appearance.

• You look in the mirror and see your same-sex parent. I didn’t want that in my youth. I thought aging would escape me a little better. I was wrong. I had a complicated relationship with my father during my youth. Genetics is a hell of a drug. But it has also made me feel a sense of solidarity and compassion for my late father. “I understand what you went through a little more now, Dad.” “I miss you.”