Staying positive is the key to aging gracefully
Keeping a positive attitude in all we do elevates the aging experience
I had an interesting experience the other day. Since my bike accident in April 2016 while doing the city census, I have been a Workers' Compensation client (which on the whole has been a very good experience).
Last Friday, I was there for a periodic checkup. It included a partly virtual/partly face-to-face meeting with a neurologist to ascertain that I am still playing with a full deck. He reviewed my medical file for the three or four days in the ICU that, as a result of a minor skull fracture, have been erased from my memory. (By the way, I have been riding a bike ever since my recovery.) The file is fascinating! I have asked for a hard copy so I can include it in the autobiography I have started to write for my grandchildren.
All I remember is coming out of my building that day and getting on my bike, then nada for days until I recall talking with the cleaning lady in the ICU.
For the rest of this column, I will let others do the talking.
Recently, after my observation about pacemakers for southpaws, one reader wrote me: “I had a pacemaker installed in 2016.
Just prior to it, after the surgeon counselled me on the need to limit stress on my left arm for the next six weeks, I told him that this would be difficult for me since I am left-handed. So he told me it would be no problem to install it on my right side, and he did.”
A good news story on two counts: a service provider willing to accommodate a client's needs or wishes and a service user not unduly overawed by the near-godlike status of their service provider.
Another one of you wrote me: “I am 80 … People tell me `I am too old for this or that … or I can't do that anymore' … But in September 2019 I had triple bypass, as well as kidney surgery, and was in hospital for 40 days … Then I bought a red Corvette convertible and now my lady and I tour the province whenever the weather is nice. My children kid me about this but are sort of proud of their father not whining about getting old and not being a burden to anyone. We may be too old for mountain climbing or touching our toes, but we are still alive and should make the most of it.”
A red Corvette convertible may not be everyone's cup of tea (certainly isn't mine), but these positive attitudes help the seniors involved cope with and optimize quality of life during the twilight years.
I was overwhelmed, more than usual, with feedback from readers on my comments about reverse mortgages. Not all of it was positive.
Personally, I think reverse mortgages are like so many things in life — not everyone's choice, but a potentially useful tool for some. I plan to make it the subject of a column in the new year.
My recent reference to residents of my building having completed an 18,000-piece jigsaw puzzle gave rise to an incoming email about a group of people in Massachusetts who whiled away the time during a lockdown earlier this year by doing one with 40,320 pieces. This one involved 10 4,000-plus piece panels of Walt Disney characters, with each person responsible for completing one of them.
And it took them only about half the time it took us.
One of the ladies in my building wanted to share something with me, though its origins are obscure. I want to do so with you, for it conveys positive messages for octogenarians wanting to make the most of their “waning years.”
■ When you throw babies in the air, they laugh, for they know you'll catch them. That is trust.
■ Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still set the alarm to wake up. That is hope.
■ We plan big things for tomorrow, despite zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence.
■ We see that the world is suffering, but still get married and have children. That is love.
■ One old man's T-shirt carried the words, “I am not 80 years old but rather a sweet 16, with 64 years' experience.” That is attitude.
The above struck a chord with me. They are all suggestive of a positive attitude. And in the current era of constraints on social interaction and of having to live in a social bubble, being positive may well, more than ever, be the key to quality of life in old age.