“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting or ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul”(Samuel Ullman). “There is a certain part of all of us that loves outside of time. Perhaps we become aware of our age only at exceptional moments and most of the time we are ageless”(Milan Kundera). It is hard for everyone to except the fact that there getting old. All we here about all the hard trial of being old, but it is all true. There are more challenges than rewards of being elderly
The thought of being elderly to most people is terrifying. Surprisingly, many people believe that getting older is just getting closer to death. Hypothetically speaking as we get older we slowly start losing our mind. We have no control over our bodies. Every year alive our bones are getting weaker until we cannot even lift ourselves out of bed. It is almost as if we are turning back into babies. We are wearing diapers. We cannot form full sentences. Someone is taking care of us by feeding us, changing us and watching over us. No one wants to grow older all we hear about is how horrible it sounds. In fact, taking care of older people, you see all the problems they face on a daily basis. For example, my grandma wears diapers, for she does not know how to use the toilet anymore. She wears glasses because she cannot see two feet ahead of her. She questions everything we say as if she did not hear us the first time. Then twenty seconds later she forgets she even asked us anything. No one wants to think about growing old because we all notice the things our elders go through and have a feeling what our future is going to consist of.
As people get older all they focus on is the bad things....
... middle of paper ...
...lso they are made to feel that they no longer have a function in the community. Their families and neighbors don’t ask them for advice, don’t really listen when they speak, don’t call on them for efforts….if it doesn’t change old persons may decide that efforts are useless.” They get pushed away because there old we judge them and think they can’t do much for us because of their age. We make up stereo types like we don’t want them to break a hip. Old people are just miss judged people. No one understands what they go through a day.
Even though there are more challenges then rewards, nothing can stop the process of aging. “First you forget names, then you forget faces, then you forget to pull your zipper up, then you forget to pull your zipper down” (Leo Rosenberg). “Age is a prison from which we cannot escape but only by death, into another world” (Morrow Bourne).
According to ALFA ageism is the discrimination of a person based on their age and it robs seniors of their independence (website at bottom). Not only are these stereotypes negative to the elderly, but it may also shorten their lives.(dittman) In Levy’s research she found that older adults who had a more positive perception of themselves lived 7.5 years longer than those with a negative perception. (dittman) Carl was perceived as a grumpy old widower and a menses to the community because of his seclusion and unwilliness for change. Because of this the judge decided he would be best off in a retirement home. It’s that assumption and attitude that Carl was too old to continue to take care of his home and be a productive citizen that creates this stereotyping. (paper) It can be assumed that Carl quit his job willingly to retire with Ellie so they could travel to South America, but unfortunately she passed. It is likely if Carl wanted to return to work that he would be turned away due to age. Okinawan people believed that retiring early made for an early death and even to this day they don’t have a word for retirement 75(book). Even young Russell displays ageism in UP, when he specifically chooses Carl to achieve his assisting an elderly badge because he assumes that because Carl is a senior that he in fact needs help. Russell would soon realize that Carl has more spunk and push in him than he first
Aging is an inevitable process where we as living beings grow old. Aging has some benefits and may bring some problems too. There is a great variety of researches done with different purposes which provide us with some information and statistics.
Aging is a natural process that happens to each and every one of us. However, this becomes a challenge for young nurses. What do you think of when you hear that you will be the nurse of a 97 year old patient? Do you automatically think that the patient will be confused, agitated, very frail, very ill, or dependent? It is okay, many us do. There is where we need to be more aware and change our views. Working in a hospital myself, I tend to assume the same. I also hear a lot of people who are surprised when they discover that their patient does not fit into this mold.
The elderly vary in their feelings and attitudes about growing older. A member of the older community shared that the worst thing about growing old is that there is not much future in it. However, she looks on the bright side and comments
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Aging and old age for a long time presented as dominated by negative traits and states such as sickness, depression and isolation. The aging process is not simply senescence most people over the age of 65 are not Senile, bedridden, isolated, or suicidal (Aldwin & Levenson, 1994). This change in perspective led the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal Royal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generatively, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological und...
Becoming older is a natural progression of life. Late adulthood is the period of life in every individual that follows the period of his or her life after he/she turns 60 years of age. Being active, eating healthy foods and handling stress have been shown to greatly improve the quality of life for senior citizens.
The elderly in America are thought of to be part of the population that have already lived their lives and are waiting to pass away. They are the last priority in society because they are the past and the country is focused on the future. What America tends to forget is that the elderly were once in time able to work for a living, and able to contribute their assets to add to what the country is today. As people age they are eventually not able to work and will have to retire. After the retirements, although they may receive government assistance, they still have to maintain homes and things to keep their lifestyle going for the rest of their years. Some elderly are paying a great amount of money to live in regular homes. Other seniors are
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
Everyone will grow old, as the aging process of the human body is inevitable. However, each day in our life can bring on new adventures, new friends, and knowledge of the world a round us. Yet, many people have negative views towards those who are considered older adults and thus, have a negative belief on the aging process as a whole. Throughout the quarter, COMM 119 has taught us why there is this negative stigma around the aging process and specially, on older adults as a group. This paper will address my stereotypical views of the aging process before COMM 119, the effect of improperly discussing death and dying, as well as what it means to be a successful ager. Understanding these topics have helped me realize that my viewpoints of elder
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisce and reflect, to bask and live on previous accomplishments and begin to finish his life cycle. There is a significant amount of adjusting that requires an elderly individual to be flexible and develop new coping skills to adapt in the changes that are common in their new life. (Dhara & Jogsan, 2013).
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.
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.
A term used for elders is aged, which is having reached a specific age (McKenzie & Pinger, 2015, p.273). Another term used for elders is aging, which means getting older. Some elders live in assisted-living facilities, which provides an alternative to long-term care in a nursing hoe. They also can live in retirement communities, which are areas that have been specifically developed for those in their retirement years (McKenzie & Pinger, 2015, p.288). For elders, health care is a major issue for them. Since they are older, they develop more health problems and that causes them to use the health care system