Old age for me personally isn’t an issue, I’m only 61 and I only think in terms of middle-age, maybe younger. Between you and me, my wife thinks I’m going through my second childhood but then she’s thought that for a long time. But I think that at least part of the secret of dealing with old-age has already been mentioned. If you think old then you’ll feel old. In a younger part of my life I had occasion to visit an older man in his home. He sat huddled in a blanket in front of a one bar electric fire and when I spoke to him he had no enthusiasm, no fire. He was, he told me, just retired at 60, and saw nothing ahead for him. He had, it seemed to me, given up. Instead of embracing his new found freedom and starting a new, exciting phase of his life, he was sitting waiting for the end. Somehow, this man had been almost brainwashed into believing that reaching 60 equated to end of life. This is a tragedy, considering a great many of us can expect to live beyond 80, how many wasted years not lived to as full an extent as we can manage. Okay, some things may be harder to do, but life in old age is a bit like Yoga; you’re only required to do a Yoga exercise as far as it’s comfortable and not to strain. In old age you now have a chance to ease back on the straining you’ve maybe had to do in your younger years, when you were doing what you had to do to support your family, go to work, look after the kids, all the sort of things we had to do. Now you’ve a chance to slow down a bit, take it easy, to call the shots.I know it’s hard to switch off suddenly when you’ve been used to always being on the go but here’s your opportunity to say ‘whoa, back up a little. I’m going at my pace now.’ The only boss you’ve got now is yourself, or whoever you choose to make your boss; my guess would be your spouse, but that’s your choice. What we think of as old age is really a breaking free of the chains that previously had us conform to what society expected of us. Now you can pretty well do what you want, law and order permitting. My Dad was a good example of that. As soon as he retired, he went out and bought an open top sports car, an Austin Healey as it happens and he and Mum would go off in the Summer evenings for a drive, scarf round Mum’s head to keep her hair under control. I think she felt a little silly but she was also young enough in her head to go with my dad's 'rush of blood' as he called his occasional eccentricities.
What I'm saying,I guess, is it's important not to lose your sense of fun;course if a sense of fun is missing already then go and find one as soon as possible! This is vital,otherwise life is always going to be a chore.Hey,a lot of life is a chore anyway,but nowhere is it written you have to let it be all a grind.I know when life is giving you a kicking it's easy to let negatives swamp you but your strongest and best weapon is your frame of mind;your mind takes you out of the situation you're in.Alternatively,you can let it take you further down where you really don't want to go.Take a walk round the local streets and look at the faces of the people you see.I'd bet a lot look like they've given up,that life holds no promise,no thrill for tomorrow.But,now and again,I'll bet,you will see a cheerful,optimistic face.Now,you'd probably say that person's got it all going for him/her but are you sure?For all we know they might be facing all kind of disasters;and they probably are.They just won't give in,they expect tomorrow to be better.It may not be,nor the day after that,but one day....If you knew your life was definitely going to be GREAT one day,would you give in today?
