My mother is still alive and cooking along at age 95. And a half. She is wee and fragile now, but she is good humoured and engaged. She loves natural beauty, her friends, Bridge, good wine and – her grand passion – music. Not that she would use these words, but she has a daily gratitude practice that serves her well.
Mom now finds old age jokes tiresome. They’re usually made by younger folks who don’t really have a clue, she remarked to me a while back. It takes enormous determination, optimism and grace to grow old. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” she says.
Ageism crops up in the elderly as much as in those younger, I’m finding. We’ve come to believe some of the myths. My clients are often fatalistic about their pain. They are sedentary because they believe moving less is advisable, even healthy. Every setback or obstacle is accommodated and invited in as a permanent guest. Despite other of their wonderful psychological, physical and cognitive strengths, some of my clients resign themselves to enormous discomfort and constraint without question. That’s what being old means to them.
I don’t have to repeat what we firmly know to be true about the relationship between exercise, especially gentle, everyday movement, and decline. Motion IS the lotion. If you don’t use it you DO lose it.
But, please read the attached article; it really caught my attention. These cultural myths we absorb create stress at a time of life that’s already stressful enough. Negative stereotypes abound and they erode self-esteem, no less than other common stereotypes about race, gender, sexual preference, religious practices and so on. Micro-aggression hurts. And if, as old folks, we push back, we risk a fall into the stereotype of the angry old (wo)man. So, easier to retreat.
Sigh….
My view? Listen to the inner messages that remind you that you are capable of much. You are.
And move – even just a little bit.
Let the jokers stand aside.
https://www.newsweek.com/dont-joke-about-old-age-its-bad-your-health-1715886
