How to Have a Bad Day Step 19: Resent Aging Pt. 2

They say marriage is about compromise. But if you’re in perimenopause or andropause, compromise looks like one person wrapped in three blankets while the other is standing in front of an open freezer yelling, “Why is it still hot in here?!” 

Nobody really prepares you for midlife. One day you’re fine, the next you’re Googling “Why am I crying over a sandwich commercial?” or “Can hot flashes set off the smoke alarm?”

Western culture calls this “aging.” But it’s really just a forced rebranding. Nobody talks about this stage of life much—unless you count the whispered confessions in the grocery aisle:

“I haven’t slept in three nights.”

“Why do I want to strangle my husband over how loud he chews?”

"I put my keys in the fridge again."

“Some days I’m a philosopher, other days I’m Googling ‘is it normal to want to move to a cabin alone in the woods?’”

It’s like Fight Club, but with less fighting and more hot tea and vitamins.

The video I was talking about in Part 1 was about how the Mayan culture views aging. The whole time I was thinking, "yeah right", so I researched it myself. Turns out he was right! And not just the Mayans, but several other cultures as well! My next question was, "Why is my culture telling me otherwise?". The answer to that was not a hard one to unravel, and you'll understand by the time you get to the end. And if you're like me, you will be mad.

Western vs. Other Cultures: A Tale of Two Perspectives

In Western culture, aging is often painted as a problem to solve. Wrinkles must be erased, gray hair dyed, and midlife transitions treated as something to medicate, hide, or deny. We are encouraged to be selfish. Spend money that should be left as an inheritance, find a new partner, abandon children and grandchildren to their own devices, or simply disengage from society because it's "the younger generations turn". And I guess GenX has come up with a new definition for us...cougar puberty. Yikes!!!

Men and women alike are pressured to cling to youth rather than embrace the wisdom that comes with age. This often leaves people feeling isolated, useless, or ashamed of their natural transitions. By contrast, in many other cultures, this stage of life is revered:

• The Mayans viewed menopause as a sacred transition. Women were no longer tied to cycles of childbearing but became spiritual anchors and community guides. Freed from the blood of fertility, they were seen as stepping into greater spiritual authority and wisdom. Instead of being sidelined, they were elevated — considered bridges between generations and even between the physical and spiritual worlds.

• In Japan, older women are often honored as “wise women” who serve as guides for both family and community. Their voices carry weight, and their counsel is sought out rather than ignored.

• In many African and Indigenous traditions, elders of both genders are recognized as cultural keepers. They hold the oral histories, stories, and lessons of the people. They are counselors, mediators, and moral compasses for the community.

• In traditional Jewish and Christian thought, gray hair is not something to hide — it is a crown of wisdom. Proverbs 16:31 reminds us, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” Age was seen as evidence of endurance, faithfulness, and authority, not weakness.

  
  

In all of these contexts, the later years of life are not written off as irrelevant — they are understood as a person’s prime season of influence. Instead of being tucked away or dismissed, elders stand center stage: teachers, guides, and stabilizers for younger generations and society as a whole.

Why This Season is Vital for Families and Communities

This stage of life isn’t a downfall—it’s a pivot. Biologically, it marks freedom from childbearing years and opens the door to a new assignment: mentoring, leading, and passing on wisdom. Yes, stamina and muscle mass may decline, but the capacity to see life clearly and understand it deeply grows stronger than ever.

In what the West calls our “prime,” the body’s energy is consumed with survival tasks—bearing children, feeding the tribe, protecting it from danger. But eventually, the next generation rises up to take that mantle of strength, drive, and fruitfulness. And when they do, we are finally free to step into a different purpose: to guide, to teach, to shape, and to offer the wisdom and clarity that only comes with years.

When Western culture convinces "the aging" to see ourselves as “done, irrelevant, or washed up,” we lose this treasure. A society without respected elders becomes fragile — cut off from its own roots. And it suffers...greatly.

When a young man grows up with a father, a grandfather, and even a great-grandfather at his side, he is not left to drift in the chaos of the world. He is anchored in wisdom, shaped by counsel, and strengthened by the voices of men who have walked the path before him. He learns who he is, where he comes from, and what it means to carry a legacy.

But strip that away—and you get exactly what we see today. A generation of boys growing into men without compass or covering. Lone wolves thrown into stormy seas with no lighthouse to guide them. The results are written across our society: addiction, despair, aimlessness, violence, broken families, and entire communities unraveling before our eyes.

And this is not coincidence. Scripture warned us of this very fracture: “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:6). We are watching the curse play out in real time. A world without fathers is a world under siege.

The removal of elders and fathers from their God-given place is not just a cultural shift—it is a spiritual attack. Because when men are cut off from the wisdom of those who came before, they become easy prey: rootless, restless, and reckless. And when that chain of guidance is broken, families collapse, churches weaken, and nations lose their way.

But there is hope. God is in the business of restoration. He raises up spiritual fathers where earthly ones have failed. He rebuilds families on the Rock of Christ when generations have been torn apart. And He is still calling men back to their posts—fathers to their children, children to their fathers—so that blessing, not curse, can cover the land.

Final Thought

The Bible frames aging not as decline but as a God-ordained season of strength, wisdom, and legacy. So if my body is shaking off hormones it no longer needs...I say let it. If it needs to heat up to clear away the old and make way for the new...I will embrace it with my head in the freezer.

Aging isn’t the end of the story — it’s the chapter where wisdom and purpose take a crucial lead. Menopause and andropause are not curses to endure, but thresholds: doors opening to a new role of guidance, purpose, and influence.

So instead of resisting or hiding, what if we embraced this stage as the crown it really is? Our families and communities don’t need us to disappear — they need us now more than ever. Who else is going to teach them how to have a good day?