I hate to break the news, but you are going to be part of the "geriatric" population someday. I have worked with this population for quite some time...and now I am almost one of THEM!People talk a lot about preparing for old age. Our culture puts much emphasis on health prevention and financial planning. You can read it almost anywhere. The concept is that good health and money will be all you need to secure a "happy" future.
I think these things are very important, but I notice there is very little emphasis on what I think is the most important practice of all...the practice of Grace. I wish I would have started this practice a long time ago, because I can now see that this is the most important part of getting older. Money and health are always out of our control...Grace is not.
I will not go into the biblical meaning of Grace, but many of my beliefs are Christian based.
My Mom used to say she wanted to "grow old gracefully". I used to think she meant not to be hung up about the wrinkles or gray hair. I really don't know what she meant by it, but I have come to believe it is an art that is to be practiced. I believe this because I see so many in this population that are bitter and depressed. Why? A combination of reasons...but mostly because they cannot do what they used to do anymore. Basically, everyone's body eventually wears out. That is why Grace is so important and much easier to come by if a person started the practice early on.
I will outline a couple of the things I have now started to practice. Most of them I got from the Bible. I think these are helpful at any age and I can guarantee if they are not practiced, growing old will NOT be "golden".
Be happy for others. As I grow older there are many experiences that I will never have or are over. There are activities I can no longer do. One remedy is to find new interests. Another is to be truly interested in the lives of others. It is better to be a cheerleader than to sit on the sideline angry that you can't be in the game.
Select your memories. I have a huge scrapbook of memories in my brain. I get to choose which ones I think about and I like to pick the ones that make me feel good. If I get saddened because I cannot go back in time, I feel grateful that I actually had the wonderful experience. After all, isn't that why we spend so much time making memories?
Love your old body. Our society is horrific when it comes to looking youthful. Loving my aging body is a very difficult practice. I try to marvel at how many movements my body has been through, but I am sad that my body is getting older. Probably the most important aspect of Grace and the hardest is acceptance.
Those are just a few things I work on. For me, I just know I DO NOT want to grow into what I see in so many of my patients. I see people who are bitter because their "hay days" are almost over. I have a feeling that the happy ones I see have practiced an attitude of grace for a very long time.
When I was young and would have read this, I would have thought, "I'll worry about that later, I'm still young and don't have to bother with that." Wisdom is mostly retrospective. In my opinion, if I had to pick which is the most important thing to prepare for old age...I would definitely choose Grace.
