{ senior life }
IT GETS BETTER WITH AGE by james payne
Assuming we are lucky enough to possess good health and safety, we will all become “senior citizens” (or as I prefer “senior adults”) in our lifetime. What that means to each of us varies greatly depending on our own health, financial situation, family, personality, culture and many other factors that affect attitude and ability to create the life we desire as we age. One of those factors that can limit or enhance our own choices and lifestyle expectations is society’s perception of what senior adult lifestyle should be like. In previous generations, the oldest members of a community were highly respected for their wisdom due to their long history of life experiences. They were revered as “Elders” due to their sound judgement and ability to maintain stability during turbulent times. My own grandfather was the patriarch of our family and we respected him for his wisdom. Flashing forward a few generations, the word “elderly” now denotes that a person is old and
frail instead of older and wiser. With today’s perception of what elder means, it can certainly negatively affect our attitudes about retirement, aging and what lies ahead in our future.
as he was retiring, “You have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.” “Without a reason, you’re just existing to an old age not living to an old age.”
With improvements in healthcare, people are now living longer and healthier at more advanced ages than ever before. Many senior adults are maintaining their independence, purpose and joy well into their 80s and 90s. The question is, how do each of us perceive our own inevitable aging and what can we do about changing the paradigm of aging to make it a positive experience that we might even look forward to? Yes, I said it, look forward to getting older.
Just prior to retirement, my parents moved to beautiful condo overlooking the lake where my dad didn’t have to maintain his property anymore. But, in my father’s style, he got up every morning for months and worked all day in the hot sun moving hundreds of wheel barrows of gravel and dirt to “fix the landscaping” for his and all of his neighbors’ yards even though it has been done pretty well by the developer. He also got out early with his snow blower to clear the snow in his driveway in the morning, before the contractor came to clear the very same snow from his driveway. It was simply his way of creating purpose in his life that gave him a reason to get out of bed in the morning. That simple advice of having purpose from my dad has changed my attitude about my own future as I age.
In this monthly column, we will explore aging, lifestyle options, resources, trends along with intergenerational lifestyle considerations. But most of all, creating or providing the best life possible as we age requires knowledge, resources and a vision of a life that has purpose. My own father who lived to 90 years old, told me
ROCHESTER WOMAN ONLINE :: JANUARY 2017
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