Sucessful Aging
I started thinking about this subject just in December. Oh I had
thought of it before but no really at the intensity I have been
thinking about it lately. I got hurt on the job in December, 04
and it brought to the forfront "What if I could no longer work?"
My doctor told me he thought I should change occupations. I am a
in-home-caregiver for the elderly. It is like the shoemakers
kids that have no shoes. I deal with aging the results and the
planning or lack of planning daily on my job. So I am more aware
of the problems than most people. However, in my own life I had
not done much about planning. I had just frankly been too busy
making a living. I only finished up raising the last of my kids
about ten years ago. I since then bought a house which most
people do in their 20's and I did too but sold it because I was
a single Mom and it was too much upkeep. I began though with
buying that house to do some financial planning. I had not had
credit in years. My credit scores became very good. I did not
use my credit wisely because even at this late age in life I
knew very little about managing my money. I knew how to survive
as a single Mom and did a pretty good job of raising my children
but I certainly never had a lot of extra money. So financial
planning never really entered the picture. Well, I digress, I
did make some sacrifices to buy this house. I lived in with a
lady for five years and saved the money I would have paid on
rent for a down payment on a house. I have been in this house
since six years. I also have run up a great deal of debt. I have
school loans which I finish my college degree at a very late
date. They are as much as I would have paid for a house a few
years ago. I also have quite a lot of credit card debt which was
just plain living beyond my means. I now have bought a financial
plan that gave me a strick plan to get out of debt and pay off
my house within ten years. This is really the first real
planning I had done as far as aging went. The counselor said to
me what is the payoff for this plan? I just didn't know. Then I
thought well what I want is to pay off all these debts and my
house. Then next I want to sell my house and find another one in
a less expensive area. I also began a plan of having three
business online. If I could have my own online business which I
could make a good living at then I could work from anywhere. I
have not gone much beyond that. Now I guess my next steps are to
work on the business that I am going to try and build. Continue
with my financial plan to pay off my debts. I also need to get a
funeral plan, a will, a health care directive and write to my
children what I would like done with my personal belongs. I have
come across a site on immortality that I intend to explore
completely. I thought that it was about wanting to live forever
but the more I read of it the more I think it is about quality
of life. I read a lot of other stuff In the Encyclopedia of
Aging, Palmore (1995) says that a comprehensive definition of
successful aging "would combine survival (longevity), health
(lack of disability), and life satisfaction (happiness)." (p.
914). Additionally, some gerontologists have discussed similar
issues using different terms such as "adjustment" or
"adaptation" to aging. A second major theory of aging, referred
to as "activity theory", proposed that people age most
successfully when they participate in a full round of daily
activities, that is, keep busy (Lemon, Bengtson & Peterson
(1972). This theory seemed to explain the surge of volunteerism
and senior activism in the 1960s and 1970s and may have been
partly responsible for public policies which underwrote the
development of senior centers and other recreational facilities
in that period. Today, the theory has been discarded by
gerontologists who view it as too narrow in its implied advocacy
of one particular lifestyle. Empirical research has demonstrated
the heterogeneity of older people, including many people who
prefer less structured lives or do not have the health or means
to pursue a full schedule of activities. Nevertheless, activity
is widely touted by older adults themselves as the key to
successful aging, so much so that gerontologists have dubbed
this philosophy "the busy ethic" (Ekerdt, 1986). I never liked
this theory why should older adults give away there time. They
are more experienced and better able to mentor. They should in
my opinion be hired as mentors to business. Successful Aging
Aging is something we all have in common. But I truely believe
we can choose a lot of how we age. We can eat right, take
vitamins, exercise our body and our minds. We can grow
spiritually. We can find things that interest us. For me this is
writing and research. I am not very consistant in eating right
and exercising. I don't know why this is because I am really
motivated to exercise and eat right for a while then I lose my
motivation. I work nights and sometimes I just get really tired
and don't want to do anything but sleep. But I have that choice
and I know it will effect how I age. We all have done something
for a living for a long while and I have been a caregiver now
for ten years or more but I have been many other things in life
and I have the capacity to work at another profession. It is
just overcoming procrastionation. It is hard to change
somethings don't fit anymore but we go on doing them anyway. As
I write and research more about this I will let you know how I
do.