This excellent post by Janet Givens asks ‘What does old age really mean?’. As somebody speaking from the experience of being in the 60th year of my life and also caring for my 92 year old mother in the last few years before her death, I have a pretty good idea. Here’s my list of what old age means:
- It means you will fight until the last moment possible to hang on to your independence instead of going into residential care.
- You will need to accept your body’s limitations, or face years of depression.
- You will drive your car until the last possible moment before the family take away your car keys because you have started to become a hazard to other road users.
- You will constantly look back to a time when you were younger and life was better.
- Friends that you’ve known all your life will all die, one by one, so somehow, somewhere, you will need to make new ones or face years of loneliness.
- You cannot help but think that you are a burden to your family.
- Bodily functions you took for granted will cease to work properly, and you will need to make ‘adjustments’.
- Mobility will decrease for sure. The legs always go first.
- It will be harder to remember anything or learn anything new.
- You will get to know your GP and ambulance staff quite well.
- You will feel cold all the time.
- You will find it hard to do up buttons.
- You will become clumsy and prone to falling over.
- You will need to use a walking stick, maybe two.
- You will resist until the last moment the necessity of using a mobility walker.
- On outings with your family you will eschew the use of a wheelchair and walk along pushing it at a snail’s pace.
- You will wake up several times during the day, but do not remember falling asleep.
- It will get harder and harder for you to hear what is being said, but you will resist until the last moment the necessity of using a hearing aid.
Depressing isn’t it? So I say this… live life to the full while you can and while you’ve still got the wherewithal to do so!
watchingthedaisies said:
A very poignant post Stevie. If only we could all hold onto good health…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Ah yes, if only…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bernadette said:
Old age isn’t for sissies. Betty Davis
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Too true.
LikeLike
Darlene said:
Geeting old is not great but it is still better than the alternative.
LikeLiked by 3 people
First Night Design said:
We do, partly because we’re so glad to be alive still. I’ve got to a stage of being happy with the very least – food, shelter, love and laughter. So I haven’t won an Oscar or the Booker or achieved any of the things I hoped to but I’ve certainly survived and that has to be an achievement in itself. Truth be told, I’m having a little trouble accepting this last and hope I have a few more years yet to achieve something else to be remembered by!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Both of us are survivors, and you also are lucky to be able to live in that lovely place where I long to be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First Night Design said:
I sell a card that says just that: “I’m a survivor, darling.’ I am lucky but I now reckon I deserve it for all that I’ve endured!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
When I meet up with you I’ll buy one of those!
LikeLiked by 1 person
First Night Design said:
Here’s a link to one of the online stores where I sell it:
I’m a Survivor, Darling! Card
by FirstNightDesign
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
I’ll have to put one of these in the van.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Email me your details to stevie@stevie-turner-author.co.uk and I’ll pop by early March when we’re at the van and purchase one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First Night Design said:
I don’t have them myself. I do the designs/art and upload the images to various galleries like Zazzle, as in the link I gave above. They’re only sold online!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Okay, thanks.
LikeLike
First Night Design said:
For once I feel at an advantage because my health has long necessitated getting used to many things on that list!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
And we do get used to the ‘new norm’ eventually don’t we?
LikeLiked by 2 people
franklparker said:
I’ve certainly known a few old people about whom those things were true. But I also dislike generalisations of any kind. I am also aware that back in the day 76 would have been considered old but now that I have arrived there I am a long way from the condition you describe. I intend to emulate the Queen and her late mother – keep going until I am at least 100. (Do you get a telegram if you live overseas?)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
When my grandmother was in her late seventies, she began to struggle in the large house she was living in. When her daughter suggested a move to sheltered housing, my grandmother shook her head and said she ‘didn’t want to live with a load of old people’! It doesn’t matter what age you get to, nobody wants to think of themselves as old. It’s human nature.
LikeLiked by 2 people
OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Thanks again!
LikeLike
OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
LikeLiked by 1 person
jenanita01 said:
Personally, I think the least said about growing old the better. It sucks big time!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Yes it does, but to be happy we have to adjust to the ‘new normal’ and not look back to what we could do before. Hard to do, but necessary.
LikeLiked by 2 people
jenanita01 said:
It is hard to do, especially when you miss what you could do before so much…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
I miss not being able to sing, as I’m quite musical. I therefore don’t listen to music as much as I used to, as not being able to sing along is quite depressing for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
jenanita01 said:
That really is sad… how on earth do you compensate for that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Don’t listen to as much music as I used to. I write instead. Sometimes my voice is stronger and I make the most of it. I never know how it’s going to be each day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
jenanita01 said:
Does it help make your voice stronger to try and sing? How about shouting?
A golden excuse to have a good rant every day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
I’ve only got one vocal cord (the left cord was paralysed in the original thyroidectomy back in 2005). The radiotherapy to my neck damaged it further. I’ve got a range of about 5 notes. Still, I suppose it’s better than nothing at all.
LikeLiked by 1 person
jenanita01 said:
From what I hear, most of our so- called singers don’t even use that many!
I hope it doesn’t stop you from having a good argument?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Ha ha, I’m not the argumentative type. I think people are used to my croaky voice now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Janet Givens said:
This is a great list and one I’ll hope to recall once I turn old. While most are poignant and bittersweet, #17 made me smile. Thanks got the friendly nod.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Janet.
LikeLike
fearlessinjesuschrist said:
You have got that right! My mother turned 90 last May and she still thinks she’s 50. In the last Almost three years my dad passed away, she fell and broke her hip, she fell and cracked her tibia, she had a bleeding ulcer, heart attack, cracked sacrum, and right now she’s in long-term rehab for a splinter fracture on her femur. She keeps on fighting though!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
Sounds just like Dot. Good luck to your mother and to you, and thanks for your comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
fearlessinjesuschrist said:
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person