Aging Gracefully

Content Courtesy of the Forever Young Podcast with Christiana Egi and Cherrie-Marie Chiu.

Aging is a very natural and inevitable part of our lives, but some people have fears about what life would be like in their later years. Some of these fears may be rational, while some may not be. These fears could relate to financial fear, fear of getting sick, or even a fear of being alone. While these situations may bring us to worry there are ways to mitigate the struggle. On this episode of the Forever Young podcast, we discussed seniors and the fears they may face in the process of aging. You can listen to the full podcast below or keep reading to find out some of the fears your senior loved ones may face and how to help them through them. 

So many of our readers and listeners are part of the “sandwich generation”, they're caring for their families, but they're also caring for their aging parents. Many of us may be suffering from burnout significantly as we recover from the pandemic and lockdown. This issue has given Christiana the reason to write her next book on burnout titled "Arrival", inspired by how adults and even children are affected by burnout. 

We talk about mindset a lot on our podcast, especially resilience. Resilience is like a muscle that you can build upon over time. Practicing resilience can help change your mindset if you feel afraid of the inevitable. Even starting a conversation about these fears can help raise awareness and help family members to prepare to have these conversations when they do arise. 
We talk so much with our children about the changes they go through as they grow up, but we don't necessarily talk about aging and our body as we get older. While our physical bodies change as we get older, we also have fears of health concerns. Change can be intimidating but when these changes happen to our own bodies it can be even scarier. Sometimes aging is a constant fear something might happen, although you can't run away from it. While we all strive to be healthy, it is just important to learn to embrace every day of our lives, and just put ourselves in that comfort zone. Whether we are old or young life impacts us, so fear and anxiety about the future are something that we need to learn ways to manage and continue to try and live healthier lives. That being said, the fear of aging is a big elephant in the room, right?

One of the biggest fears that seniors might have is losing their independence. Understanding that our loved ones feel the same way about their fears about their loss of independence is a really good way to start the conversation about aging. It can feel very upsetting to not be able to take care of yourself in the ways you may have once used to. With ALS, many become fully dependent on their caregivers or loved ones which can be a hard journey for the person that may be going through it. According to Franklin Roosevelt said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Because if you allow fear to take hold of you, you'll be paralyzed, and you miss out on all the joys of life, there's so much to enjoy, and there are adversities in life, everyone gets them, some people more so than the other. So I think instead of just, you know, completely succumbing to that fear, we should actually try to look at the positive aspects of life and do our best to help our seniors make better decisions for independence. 

Rather than making decisions for them, just letting them do things that they can see do so instead of telling your loved one, not to change a light bulb, but because they may fall that may make them feel like you know what, you don't think they are capable. Instead, ask them if they would like you to change a light or check what light is not working properly so that you change it, you know, be gentle with how you talk to them so that they know they can still feel that they have that independence, even though you are supporting them. 

In order to help our loved ones cope with aging and declining health, I think it's important that we have open discussions with them and let them know that they're not alone with their health conditions, because 91% of seniors have at least one chronic condition. So it's only natural as we age that things start to break down a little bit with our bodies, but there are definitely things we can do to help, and that is what our podcast is all about! We learn how to stay forever young, how we can care for ourselves so that as we age, can our bodies can handle it better right? It is normal for seniors to need assistance and in fact, 65% of aging adults rely on long-term help from family and friends, and even 30% use paid assistance. Seeing aging as a part of the process of humanity can make it seem less scary. 

Giving our loved ones the opportunity to find something of interest and giving them that sense of purpose is very important. We need to try to encourage them to get out more and get involved because as we age, we tend to withdraw. It is really important to have a community and participate in activities even as you age. Some may enjoy cooking, gardening, stitching, or crocheting. There are many interesting hobbies to pick up as you get older and regardless of your age. Continue to give your loved ones room to continue to do as much as they can for themselves. It's so important to give people the opportunity to do things that they can still do for themselves and foster independence, dignity, and respect. 

So aging doesn't have to be so frightening, right? We were able to have some good laughs and we talked about how aging does not need to be a fear but something that will inevitably happen to all of us. Being Forever Young means we do our part in Aging Gracefully. While some people may age gracefully with no effort, it is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle, diet, exercise, and sleep well. We just know that we need to do our part in the aging process.

Keeping open communication flowing between you and your aging loved ones is maybe one of the best things we can do to help this. We are firm believers that what you put in your body is what you will get out of it; after all, you cannot make it withdraw without first making a deposit. 

The Forever Young podcast was created and produced by Christiana Egi and Cherrie Marie Chiu. Produced and engineered by Elisse Hill. The podcast represents our opinions and those of our guests. The content should not be taken as medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. If you like our show, please tell your friends and leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. New episodes are available every other Wednesday. Have questions? Email us at ourforeveryoungpodcast@gmail.com.