Adapting to old age isn’t exactly easy. The key to aging successfully is in being adaptable. Masud Alam (Toronto Star: Toronto, Ont. June 30, 2000) makes that pretty clear in his article about aging with attitude. The hardest adjustment is accepting that you may need to change your goals and aspirations. All learning is a form of adaptation, but as you get older you come to understand that adapting what you learn to everyday living is learning in its truest form. In the beginning life was exciting. Everything you learned was about becoming the person who you were meant to be. What changes? As you get older you still need to learn and make changes, but now it is about learning how to deal with the roadblocks that life throw up in front of you. It isn’t always easy. Life changes can cause a huge loss of self esteem and confidence. Mental and physical abilities as well as a trust in people and many of life’s circumstances start to skew how you look at things.
It is necessary to come to terms with the fact that changes will or have occurred, and live accordingly. Life is full of challenges and you must learn how to adjustment to them. It takes strength and enthusiasm when a cane becomes a walker or a walker becomes a wheelchair. It becomes necessary to adapt in order to remain independent of body and of spirit, but adapting is what we do.
Those who can adapt do well, and those who don’t adapt or refuse to accept this painful reality, will not. Your mental attitude defines who you are and it is the main component for success. To keep everything going the way you like, you have to work at it. The author encourages you to set new goals every single day and try to attain them. The rest is up to you.
Successful aging means that you accept the aging process and adapt to the changes that it brings it. You learn that you have to roll with the punches. It may mean that you have to change the type of physical activity that you do, it may mean remodeling your house to meet your changing needs, or it may mean adapting to changes in health and lifestyle.
The secret to adapting to old age might be as simple as talking daily with friends or a walk around the block. It means meeting each challenge without fear and if you have to start over again, you can. No one thing (The Science Teacher 62.8: November 1995) contributes to healthy aging, but a combination of factors can. The ability to adapt to change and rebound from difficult situations is high on the list of things that contributes to healthy aging. Surviving is what we do.
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