Learning to Love Growing Older
Some people have a fear of heights. Some people have a fear of spiders. And then, some people have a fear of growing older. Another year, another candle, another gray hair. As our bodies age, it’s natural to be scared of changes, but growing older shouldn’t be something we’re scared of. It should be something that we all look forward to.
Successful aging can give older adults the opportunity to make some adaptations in their life.
Denise Gammonley, a social work professor for the University of Central Florida, explains the process behind “successful aging” and how it can help older adults come to accept that they are growing old, and how to do it well and in a way that is healthy.
“Successful aging entails three things: both your bodily functioning and your psychological or emotional functioning with the third leg being the social piece,” Gammonley says. “Those kinds of things go together. So, for example, some people define successful aging as not getting any diseases, but the fact that we all grow older and eventually our bodies do decline means if you define it only that way, what’s there to look forward to?”
Successful aging, as Gammonley says, can give older adults the opportunity to make some adaptations in their life. It allows you to re-examine how you take care of yourself physically and emotionally, and how productive and engaged you are in the community.
“One of the things that I think is really exciting about the whole concept of successful aging is that it promotes wellness and staying involved,” says Gammonley “Including, for example, things such as trying to be engaged in the community productively, whether you continue working or not. And there are people who continue working, out of necessity or because they love to, well into later life.”
Another piece of successful aging is avoiding disease and disability. The best way to prepare is to start doing what you can now, instead of waiting until later in life, according to Gammonley.
“Sometimes we talk about slowing down or minimizing some of those chronic illnesses, rather than avoiding it,” Gammonley says.” Another piece of it is trying to maintain your high cognitive and physical functioning. And the best way to do that is to begin take care of your cognitive and physical functioning not when you’re 60, 70 or even 50, but when you’re quite younger than that.”
The key is to be prepared for the change, according to Gammonley. “Don’t look at it as a time of something to worry about,” she says.
Article by Shayla Silva
