grow older better

Tag: human development

  • Senior citizens don’t be categorized – define yourself instead!

    Would you like to be categorized – or would you rather be defined?
    Before you answer – read on a bit – there is a subtle difference between the 2 ideas. 
    You define yourself.  Others categorize you. R. Peterson
    Think about this difference.  
    If you allow yourself to be categorized. you may find yourself described as being:
    • old
    • inactive
    • poor
    • unhealthy
    • decrepit
    • bent over
    • wheelchair bound
    • ready to die

    [to cite a few stereotypes]

    But – if you define yourself – there is no limit to the list of descriptors you can use!

    Senior citizenship is being:

    • a cougar
    • a master skier [squash player, golfer, runner, etc.]
    • wealthy
    • learned
    • a font of wisdom
    • a treasure trove of knowledge
    [add your own descriptions]
    Reflect on the difference between the two lists. 
    The first is a list of stereotypes or myths that too many people have about those over 65 – and especially about those over 70. 
    Can you imagine how those over 90 are described?  Scary – isn't it ?
    The second is a list of what older persons can do and are now doing. And these are behaviors, and knowledge, which many cultures cherish and nourish. It’s just that our stereotypical blinders keep us from seeing this.
    “Wise elders,” who are respected, and from whom advice is sought, sounds like a far better description than “nosy old coot.” Especially when those so described may have the same wisdom to impart.
    If you let others categorize you – you lose some of your own “self-ness.” You become a statistic or a stereotype. Worse – you begin to believe that this is the way older persons are supposed to be and act.
    You follow what in psychology is known as the self-fulfilling prophecy; you actually become what others think of you or how they have categorized you.
    How is this possible? Because there are very few large populations of active healthy seniors to study and the researchers are mostly “younger” – so they are not surrounded in the workplace by healthy 70 year olds.
    When you define yourself – you maintain a large degree of individuality -and independence – which are vital to healthy aging. 
    So snub your nose at the categories and category makers and define your own way through the aging process!
    Don’t worry about what others think of you – especially if they say things like: “aren’t you too old to still be skiing?” or playing softball or even working? 

    Think up a cute response that lets those “others” know you will keep doing what it is you like to do –

    NOT what the category makers think you should be doing.

    And you? Category or definition?

    Please comment below – thank you

  • Who, or what, is considered “old” these days?

    Is this an activity for "old" people? Sure is! Is this an activity for "old" people?

    Why not ??

     
     
     
    40 used to be old; then it was 50 or 60; now it is over 75 [ish].

    Textbooks on lifespan human development have been adding new chapters to the end of the books and re-categorizing and re-labeling the ages between 35-75. 

    The cohort of "75 to death" is now sometimes called “very old age.”  [But at least over 75 is included in newer textbooks – older ages used to be entirely left out.] 

    And just so older persons don’t feel singled out; adding in chapters about ages 30, 40 and 50 took a long time too.  Developmental Psychology, as a field of study, is still growing – as is the human lifespan.

    We all get old but we need not sit around and wait for death to happen.

    Death is psychologically as important as birth… Shrinking away from it is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose. Jung

    However you define this later age of maturity – it is important to keep yourself and our increasingly longer later age[s] of life in super condition.

    How do you do this so you are not robbing yourself of the purpose which Jung mentions?

    Here are three suggestions:
    • keep your body in the best shape possible
    • keep your brain active
    • socialiize

    Your body

    It’s the only one you have and you need to take care of it. Yes, these days parts can be replaced – but you still then need to take care of the new parts.

    The best time to start this body care is now! It doesn’t matter how old you are, taking care of that body can begin today! [Even if you are in your “youth” and reading this.]

    Exercise daily. It can be as simple as walking to more complicated exercise routines. Just start now!

    Your brain

    Like your body, the brain too needs exercise. They thrive on challenge – so keep doing harder and harder mental tasks. Don’t settle for the easy puzzle – stretch and go for the harder one. Make that brain really work! 

    Your social life

    Socializing keeps you in shape too. It makes you think, react and use your brain. Be a friend. Make new friends. You’ll feel better.

    And best of all one can combine all of the above by finding a friend to exercise with and or go to a discussion group or book club. Your body brain and social being will feel so good. You’ll have a super later age of maturity.
     
    what's you take on "old"  let's chat via comments below

  • Is happiness related to age?

    friends help you be happy
     
    The quick answer is a resounding NO!

     
    Age is not related to happiness because  happiness has nothing to do with being a specific age. 
    What happiness does have to do with are the following 3 life circumstances:
    • enthusiasm about life and living
    • minimizing depression
    • being healthy
    And these three circumstances are interrelated.
    Enthusiasm is that child-like quality of wonder or passionate interest in life which, sadly, we seem to let diminish as we age. Henry David Thoreau once remarked: “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
    Enthusiasm is seeing each new day and each new moment as a gift – a wondrous event; one that has such potential that we can be awe struck.
    Remember when your child was a baby? Everything was new and fun. Your child sat and stared at a flower, the cat or dog, or at you! And I bet you spent hours watching your baby sleep.
    Your young child was engrossed for hours pulling the petals off roses – smelling them or eating them. Ditto the dandelions and grass. Or listening to you read the same story over and over and over as if it had never been heard before.
    What happens that as we age we lose much of our enthusiasm? Many think it’s our education system and/or the current state of stress in modern families. Children just don’t seem to be allowed to spend those hours with the roses or with the parent reading – everyone is just too busy to allow it to unfold like that.
    But even for children who can stay enthused by the world around them, the prevalent culture of TV and school soon start to diminish this.
    Minimizing depression
    Maybe losing our enthusiasm as we age increases the incidence of depression? If each day brings wonder and excitement – it’s hard to be depressed. You get out of bed eager to see what the day has in store. You walk, you meet with friends, you go to work or you sit happily by yourself thinking about what a great thing it is that you are alive and happy about all that you can do! 
    Being healthy
    If you are healthy it is easier to be enthusiastic and to minimize depression. But it works the other way too. If you are enthused and have minimal depression – you do things that make and keep you healthy. 
    We live in a wonderfully and intricately interconnected body and mind.
    Stop and think why we label this phenomenon of enthusiasm as “child-like enthusiasm.”   I never hear “adolescent-like enthusiasm” or “adult-like enthusiasm” as if these are not possibilities.

    Go and find that stop and smell those rosesenthusiasm you had way back when and don’t worry if others say you are acting “like a child.”  

     

     

    Stop and smell those roses! 

    It will help you grow older better. 

  • Here’s a question, and some variants, to ponder

    What is old age? Or – when does old age start? Or even this: Is there really such a “thing” as old age?

    I have taught life span development many times over the decades and it’s a question that came up [and comes] up in college classes and now it’s popping up among other populations – even among those who might be considered to be “in” their old age.

    I have heard many 20-somethings talk about “those poor senior citizens” who collect social security. The “seniors” are often described as infirm, unable to work and otherwise to be pitied. These same 20-somethings most likely come into contact with those over 65 – who are still working, still active and hardly pitiable…but the 20-somethings do not see those over-65ers as being over 65.

    So when are you old? Is it an age determination? or is it something else?

    When I was a “young kid” a few years removed from graduate school – many of the local psychology professors were beginning to think and write about aging but few had really started studying it. One such psychologist jokingly said that only when we all got older would psychologists start really understanding older ages. I think she was right.

    Studying older and aging populations is relatively new…and defining old age keeps changing…

    Me? I hate the term “old age.” It has no real meaning. We do not speak of childhood as “new age” or junior – so why label some as old age or senior? I much prefer “old fart” – it stops people in their tracks – annoys some and makes many laugh… I ask for my old fart discount when I go to a particular store on what I call old fart Wednesdays – when we old farts get a 10% discount.

    glyconutrients, healthy aging, growing older, aging, nutrition, exercise, eating properly,