How prepared are you to grow old?

Many of us over 50 are now experiencing the challenges of aging and it is a journey that becomes more difficult with time as serious physical and mental decline threatens our quality of life.

If you are like most people, you’re not fully prepared for what’s coming.

If you are diagnosed with cancer or heart disease, are you emotionally prepared to battle and endure? If your knees fail, are you prepared to use a walker?

Do you have the confidence to wear a hearing aid in public? Are you too vain to handle the onset of wrinkles and age spots on your face? Are you mentally prepared to say goodbye to your youthful appearance forever?

There is no stopping, Father Time; he wins every time. The goal is to age gracefully but many of us are likely to experience bouts of anxiety and depression throughout our senior years. The challenges of aging facing people over 50 today are daunting, but there is hope. Practicing what gerontologists call, “positive aging” will help all of us better cope with the hallmarks of aging.

Positive aging covers our ability to maintain a positive mindset, stay in the present moment, feel confident about ourselves, keep fit and healthy, and engage fully in life. Growing older can be the best part of living when you discover the power of positive aging.

Here are what I believe are the six practices of positive aging that I encourage anyone over 50 to embrace.

Practice Positivity

Learning to stay positive will help you maintain your self-worth as you face the challenges of aging. It helps us avoid negative thoughts and embrace life head-on. For positivity to be effective, you need to make it a habit. Use affirmations like “I choose to be happy; I love my life” to establish a healthy habit of positivity. Or focus on something positive like the love I have for my family and friends. Every time a negative thought enters my mind, my thoughts flood with pictures of my children and grandchildren.

You can also put yourself in a happy place. For me, my happy place was taking long walks down a tree-shaded pathway during the early stages of my cancer treatment.

Live in the Present

Mindfulness is living in the present moment, free from worries about the past or the future. This practice will help you appreciate every moment in your life, an effective distraction from focusing on physical and mental decline. Perhaps the best way to live in the present moment is to meditate. I’ve found that just five minutes of meditation in the morning and evening is effective for seniors.

Other ways to stay in the present moment are to block out past thoughts and stop worrying about the future. Don’t compare your life now to your younger self.  

Tap Your Spirit

Studies indicate that 80 percent of people in America believe they possess a spirit/soul. If this is the case, an older person needs to spend more time on their spiritual side. We need to strengthen our spirit as our physical body declines. We need to go on a spiritual journey to prevent growing older. For some, a spiritual journey might be prayer. For others, it might be seeking peaceful moments like taking a walk down a tree-lined road; or just sitting by the window of your home, viewing nature at its best on a sunny day.

Practice the Four A’s

I’ve found that the people who do best with aging are the ones who practice one or more of what I call the Four A’s: Accept, Adapt, Appreciate, and Attitude.

Growing old is a bummer but you need to accept aging to fully live in your senior years. Adapting is one of the keys to improving quality of life as your age. Be willing to try new things and put quality of life over shame and embarrassment. Appreciation means thankfulness and living your life as if everything is a miracle and being cognizant of the wonderful things in your life. Finally, aging is all about attitude.

Don’t cower to those misguided forever-young attitudes that favor the young over the old. Be proud and honored to have lived this long.

Stay Social

One is a lonely number. We are all in this life together. If we help each other as we age, we can experience joy rather than suffering. Life is wonderful in our senior years if we have a social support network and if we engage in social interaction.

Stay Balanced

Finding the right balance in your life is critical to successful aging. The challenge is that we become increasingly out of balance as we age. Aging leaves many of us feeling unsettled, anxious, and confused about who we are. Life balancing includes adjusting your lifestyle, social interactions, priorities, and expectations.

Why Positive Aging?

There is mounting research that indicates positive aging likely lengthens life expectancy. And given the numerous benefits and life-changing effects of positive aging—which include enhanced physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, and improved quality of life as you age—perhaps the more interesting question is, why would anyone not practice positive aging?

By David Lereah