How to Act Like An Old Lady
As women, let’s face it, we sometimes dread those later years of our lives in terms of how they might affect us both physically and mentally. Who wants to grow old and decrepit, right?
There seems to be a consistent and growing trend in eating healthier, exercising more, and maintaining a positive attitude. Those are all great indicators that as we glide into the afternoon of our lives that the transition will most likely be seamless and pleasant. However, I often wonder why we seem to stress ourselves out with the age thing. After all, our bodies are not meant to last forever. In observing one interesting lady over the years, I have found that the best way to keep the clock of time from creeping up on you rests in the daily use of laughter and good humor, complemented by a clear presence of mind.
At age 45, I sometimes feel as if I am gearing up for the senior citizen lifestyle. After all, there are some days when my mailbox is holding a “Come Visit Our New Senior Care Facility” invitation with my name in bold letters on the front. I frequently ask myself just how 45 became the new 95, and I cannot figure it all out.
The reason for my confusion rests mainly in one woman, my grandmother.
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Ann,
I'm astonished! How wonderful! This is one of my favorite posts of all time.
Even coming from a family where the woman are long-lived, I am in awe of your grandmother. I and most of my friends are just past 50, and a person does a lot of thinking right around 50 about "the next 50" and what it might hold. How much potential is there for new skills, new experiences, new arcs of development? How much time is left and how good can that time be? What will we do in our second 50 that we didn't or couldn't do in our first 50? What are the possibilities?
Thanks for reminding all of us that we better get off our keisters and get to it, because with your grandmother working on "her third 50," clearly the rest of us have some work to do in this regard! She's leaving us in the dust!
Every time I feel like I need a break or something, I merely think of my grandma and how much she has done in her life. From that perspective, I have my work cut out for me!
What a great story--it was a joy to read!
I am so curious---where did your grandmother move to?
I am also astonished that "growing old" for women is something to be dreaded and despised. We are all getting older every day, and I am saddened to see "the elderly" not being treated with respect, or sought-out for their stories.
I am in my mid-30s, and am receiving messages every day (magazine, internet, TV, junk mail) that I should make it my life mission to do everything in my power now to stop the aging process---no wrinkles, no gray hair. Why are we accepting that these qualities are ugly in the first place? I hope current and future generations will combat this negative stereotype and embrace beauty--regardless of age!
I think that society often confuses the words "elderly" or "old" with the words "frail" and "irrelevant." Ann's grandmother may be old, but she's about as far from frail or irrelevant as it gets -- and I imagine she gets plenty of respect!!
But I think once an older person starts to become frail, society starts writing him or her off, as though they no longer matter, they no longer have anything to contribute. And in a culture where that exists, I think it's natural for people to not want to appear to be old. It's almost a math equation:
If O=I and O=G, G is negative.
(As long as old=irrelevant and old=gray, gray will be seen as negative.)
When we see young people adding gray streaks to their hair because it makes them look cool, then we'll know we're getting somewhere!
I love her,too. I'm a shirttail relative and proud to say so.