Adapting to ageing

Ageing is upon us in our retirement stage of life. After that crucial decision to retire, it is now post-retirement. Each decade can provide signs of our ageing advancing. Many seniors plan to retire at sixty or shortly thereafter. That is the time to enjoy the best of the golden years, making choices and adapting to our new age.

Now I have turned seventy, I am learning to go with the flow. My aching knee has been playing up, so that is a setback to mobility. But, it is improving. After the initial painful limping, I resolved to increase my knee strength with some sensible exercises and slow daily walking. Yes, definitely better each day. Until next time I race around, trying to do too much.

Setbacks in ageing are to make us stronger and maybe reflect on the advantages we have had along the way. Sometimes, anyone can find it very handy to play our ‘poor, little old widow with mobility concerns’ card in life. We can hanker for a sympathy card for our pity parties. But, this tactic is not to be overdone for regular life coaching.

It is better to maintain some cheerful vibes. As seniors, we all prefer to see everyone doing well, including us. We need to adapt to our ageing, the turning of each page, and seek to give anyone we meet a senior smile. Any chronic health disorder can push our ‘poor old me’ button, but if we persevere, we can focus on giving what gifts we have to the world.

One friend told me one day recently that I was still pushing the envelope of the glass ceiling of ageism. I have acquired a few basic digital skills, and still engage in an at-home online small business, for very low fees, enabling adult students with English. Given the state of the Covid-19 variants, my scholars are welcome anytime, but keep their germs on the other side of the laptop!

Some people do complain about discrimination and bias toward ageing in society and the workplace environment, but I have no complaints there. We can all factor in approaching this stage in our seniority with a sensible attitude. For example, I now obtain my vascular medicines in allocated Webster packs, home-delivered by a courier from my pharmacist. I also had my car serviced at home, it was not much more expensive than my normal car service.

Realistically, if seniors have any small business in retirement, there may be no one to delegate any work to, so we can all hope for continued capabilities to keep going. In our seventies, our ageing concerns may cause us to re-evaluate any choices in daily living on an ongoing basis. Many of us find a measure of our identity through working, and there are different ways of still doing so. Going with the flow is the best attitude.

We can aim to either spend the kids’ inheritance or not. Seniors are the baby boomers, some do join the SKI club. Some wish to endow their descendants before their time is over, and some wish to leave a legacy. I have known octogenarians who chose to leave the lot to the Lost Dog’s Home, for gold-plated euthanasia dog biscuits. This left behind some very bitter feelings for their families. One lady even wrote her own eulogy, before she passed to glory.

It is all an individual choice for sensible living, as we all have to adapt to our ageing, greying or bald. It is really good to have a purpose in our lives. For some, it is spending quality time with grandchildren. But for some friends, their grandchildren are distant, even if they live locally. This can be due to old family discord, or divorce. Some grandparents feel very stiff, their grandchildren are growing up somewhere, and have become strangers. All they ever see is old baby photos, from many years past.

We all have to wake up, and think, “Setbacks can make us stronger, go with the flow.” Ageing will flow on, we can all adapt, re-evaluate, and wake up with positive vibes for the world, from senior dudes and the good old girls!