Look at it as another year of obstacles overcome and wisdom gained unique to you, rather than a loss of time and youth. The older you get the more relaxed you are with yourself. Things that seemed to matter lose power over you, and you gain a freedom in that. By the time you are 80 you'll be playing tennis in the nudist colony without a care. Ok..maybe not the nudist colony, but having flatulence in the supermarket will no longer bother you, in fact you can hide behind a lot in old age, speak in silly voices, pretend you cannot hear people, answer questions talking nonsense, ask for double glazing in the computer shop, say "I was told they sold windows" My partner and I have a lot of fun with it.
You've just gotta take the years as they come, because they come anyway. So you may as well enjoy it as much as you can. Life's too short for posing and posturing. When you reach the end all that matters is whether you enjoyed it. My Grandfather taught me that, served in the war, a carpenter by trade, grafted all his life, he was the biggest wind up merchant and the funniest man I knew.
