I couldn’t write about being 64 without including this song. Plus, it was on the Sgt. Pepper’s album, which was released in 1967!
Am I the only one?!
My main takeaway or realization about being in my 65th year and rapidly approaching my 65th birthday is that I am grateful for all that is positive, supportive and loving in my life. There are times when it sure doesn’t feel like it, when I feel isolated, misunderstood and guilty, but inevitably I am able to keep putting one foot in front of the other because someone is kind or I see another hopeful sunrise . . . I worry that as I am getting older and balancing caregiving and work, with too little time for friends, family, home and my interests, I focus too much on what is difficult in my life. It is dragging me down into self-pity and turning me into a version of myself that I don’t like. To try and avoid being overwhelmed by sadness, I realize that, more and more, I am noticing all the big and little things that I am grateful for, such as two days of gorgeously warm weather in the middle of February and my understanding, helpful children who often help me turn my crabbiness into laughter. I am trying to nurture this more grateful approach to life so that it becomes a habit and helps me to laugh and feel better and more hopeful about myself and my life at 64, soon to be 65.
1. Millennial offspring are useful, time-saving, on-call tech staff
2. Life feels more conscious; it feels like I am more in control, more proactive when possible, rather than merely reacting to events and people
3. I have gotten slightly better at laughing at myself, at laughing at my mistakes, my idiosyncrasies, and the absurdities of life
4. I am very conscious and bewildered by how quickly time is slipping away
5. I notice that I am starting to need less sleep; I am staying up later, but still getting up early
6. With a bit of professional help, I am better able to take the long view about myself and the choices I have made while not dwelling in the past. I am better able to understand how my past has shaped me. I am better able to understand myself in context.
7. My sight and my hearing are gradually getting worse. I really don’t like driving in the dark and how many times and how many different ways can I ask someone to say it again?
8. I have more strategies for dealing with forgetfulness: lists, telling people what I need to do because repetition reinforces, using online synonym searches to remind me of vocabulary. I know words, but I can’t always find them in my brain.
9. Perspective is everything. More specifically, because people are generally living longer – I have two aunts in their mid-90s and one who lived to 102 – I can say that I am oldER for much longer, although I do plan to take advantage of the freebies and discounts for people 65 and up. However, because my hair is mostly white, a bit grey at the back, cashiers and tellers have been offering me a place to sit and seniors’ discounts for a long time. It has helped ease me into thinking of myself as oldER.
10. I am amused and bewildered and sometimes frustrated by how rapidly the world is changing, especially slang and technology. Again, this is why I’m so grateful for my personal tech support.
How do you feel about getting older? What are the positives and negatives? I looked up quotations about getting older and many of them say that it’s great because the alternative is dying. Of course that’s true, but there are definitely other positives, especially if we are healthy. What do you think? Let us know in the comments and take care.
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