It gives me great joy to be here today, thank you all for coming to my 90th Birthday Celebration. It means so much to me. Who would think that I would have made my 90th. Some days I don’t feel 90 at all and then other days my body quickly reminds me “Gemma, your not as young as you used to be”. You know you are old when everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work or when your back goes out more than you do. I have been asked to share some milestones in my life with you; the only trouble is, if I can remember them. My first milestone was 90 yrs ago at 6:59pm one Saturday night I was born a big bouncing bundle of joy Gemma Louise Kitchin. My fondest memories of my childhood were family holidays at the beach, especially QLD, spending time with my Uncle Shane on the scariest rides and Saturday mornings spent at Little Athletics where I …show more content…
Mum must of know I was born to be an athlete because at the age of 9 months I was running around the furniture. “You are going to be an athlete one day”, she said; may be even in the Olympics”. Up until the age of 11, I lived in Dharruk NSW where I attended “Mamre Anglican School”. My athletics career took off with me achieving State level in Swimming and past State Level in running. I was very excited to run on the Homebush track where many Olympians had run, this was some of my proudest moments. Primary school was ok but High school, I loved it. In 2015, my family moved to Cranbourne Victoria. In year 7, I was selected to be in the Leaders In Sport Programme at Elisabeth Murdoch College; this is where my career in Sport really took off. I graduated achieving 97 % and I was accepted into the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra; through hard work and determination, I was running the
Many do not like to talk about their age and their aging process, because to some, chronological aging has much more meaning than just the number of years that they have lived (Hooyman et al., 2015). Age really is just a number. There are centenarians and super-centenarians, like Flossie Dickey, who are still going strong at and living their daily lives with minimal restrictions (Hooyman et al., 2015), and people who struggle at the age of 80, it is all about aging successfully (Hooyman et al., 2015). What it means to age in society is a constantly changing concept, and now that the baby-boomers are starting to reach their older adult stages, maximum life spans are continuing to rise (Hooyman et al., 2015), and we see more centenarians and super-centenarians and skipped generation households (Hooyman et al.,
This change in perspective led to the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generative, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological understanding of successful aging is however, also often associated with the absence of age-Associated features - "just not age" equated. Successful aging may be regarded as the satisfaction with the conceptualized present and past lives, Larson (1978). In more recent approaches, it may include two approaches to identify successful aging....
I was never the best swimmer, but I certainly worked hard, and had the most fun doing it. When it came time to apply to University, I didn’t have the times to qualify for the University team. However, my old coach put in a good word about my work ethic and improvement, and as a result I was on the team. Once again, through dedication, I am now set to graduate as a 4th year Bison Athlete. This dedication and hard work extends beyond sport—I’ve maintained a GPA above 4.0 (4.09 unadjusted; 4.13 adjusted) and have been honored as Academic All-Canadian each
This reflection paper is based on the life history interview conducted on me and a 78-year-old woman who is soon going to celebrate her 79th birthday on Sep 21st. I would call her with a fictitious name “Smita” in the entire paper to maintain and protect her privacy. The interview was about our life. It was divided into six major life categories: childhood, adulthood, identity, the present, aging, and life lessons. Having an opportunity to interview a 78-year-old woman and writing this reflective paper about the life history and experiences had made me realize that I have a lot to learn about the stages of human life. Every individual lives are different and it varies tremendously. As an interviewee my goal was to collect the details of life, different stories, and experiences that makes our life unique from the rest of the people.
The thought of aging is not void of hesitance given it produces questions deprived of answers in the absence of a crystal ball. Subsequently, aging parallels the unknown; thus, faced with uncertainty adopting a positive perspective remains elusive. Although, it’s preferred to view aging optimistically one cannot escape its negative connotations. Will I be an active agent or isolated burden remains a noteworthy unknown that enervates my optimism. Another consideration leading to my vacillating view on aging is, not knowing to what degree personal competencies and capacities will carry forward, thereby affording autonomy in the elder years. However, as research suggest, the aging process transforms healthy adults into frail ones; thus, dashing one’s hope that such traits will endure (Friis, 2010). Incidentally, at age 48, these lingering questions will soon be answered. In the interim, there is an inherent responsibility to prepare physically, psychologically, and financially for entry into the aging population. Ideally, the goal is to
“The Golden Years? You've got to be kidding...(Nelson)” Ageism is the main influence for how older people view the aging process. Despite stereotypes, today, for the first time in history, most people can expect to live into their sixties and beyond. A longer life represents an important opportunity, not only for older people and their families, but also for societies as a whole. Additional years provide the chance to pursue new activities such as further education or a long-neglected passion, while continuing to make valuable contributions to family and community.
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
Beginning in middle school, my average day consisted of ten hours of academics and five hours of training. I overloaded my body to reach both academic and athletic goals, earning the titles of academic all-American and a United States Swimming national champion.
Growing old is a process of life which most people hope to experience. Some people view growing old as a good thing, while others disagree. The process of growing old can bring on new changes both mentally and physically for an individual; many different aspects of an individual’s life begin to decline. Through exploring material of the development of humans in late adulthood, I have created an image of what I believe I will be like at the age of 70.
Aging and being old has been dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time. At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict with each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics seems that successful aging means is not aging.
Over the last 2 days, we had our inaugural Seniors’ Week event comprising a host of activities, workshops and talks related to active and successful ageing. This symposium is the finale of Seniors’ Week 2016 and brings it to a befitting close. The theme for this symposium is Transforming Ageing: Enrich, Engage, Empower and this resonates well with the national action plan for
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.
Then, as the season started up I pushed myself at every practice and ran my heart out every race the coach gave me the opportunity to run in. While some races were full of medals and praise from my peers and coaches, others were full of futile effort and frustration. Even when agonizing setbacks happened, my passion kept me working towards better times. After beating out my competitor for a prized position spot, I ended up accomplishing my goal of making state as a part of our team’s 4x8 relay. Completing my dream of competing on Drake University’s beautiful blue track.
This posting is about the elderly and their reminiscence of their own life. Throughout the post, I will discuss some of the difficulties I have experienced in providing care for the elderly. Furthermore, I will describe my own thoughts and feelings about the required video and what changes I will include in my nursing practice after watching the video.