Jane Fonda wants young people trying to figure things out right now to know: it’s getting easier. The 85-year-old activist recently spoke about the benefits of aging in the first episode of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ new podcast, wiser than me, in which Fonda shared some insights she wished she had known about when she was younger. Specifically, she wants young people to know that she understands it’s hard, but it won’t always be that way.
“It’s really, really hard to be young. People always think it’s hard to be old. No, it’s hard being young,” Fonda told his host.
« Amen. I couldn’t agree more. [Being young] It’s so hard, ”replied Louis-Dreyfus, 62.
Fonda said she was determined not to keep this message: « Personally, I think it’s important to let young people know, ‘It’s not you, honey. It’s just Really hard.' » (As a 28-year-old woman who spends the majority of her days wondering what’s going on in general, I found this extremely encouraging.)
One of the reasons being young was hard for her, Fonda said, is that she refused to lean on others. « I was raised to never ask for advice or help, and I mistakenly thought that was how you were supposed to be if you were an adult, » she said. « Until I was 60, I never asked for advice, it seemed like a weakness. »
Around the time she realized how important reaching out was, Fonda also learned the importance of getting to know each other, she said. « You can’t really know how to move on if you don’t know where you’ve been, » she explained. « So I spent the year between 59 and 60 looking for myself very objectively, like it wasn’t really me, it was someone else. »
The result? Fonda learned what the rest of us have always known about her: « What I found out is that I’m really brave, » she said. “I didn’t know that before. I have been brave all my life.
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