Talk About Aging, It's In The Mirror

The aging experience is something we all share. From childhood through adolescence we can’t wait to be older and enjoy the perks of adulthood. As children we forge our independence bit by bit and look forward to the day when we are “on our own”. Ironically, as most adults understand, freedom and independence come with a price, responsibility. As adults we bear the responsibility for raising the next generation and providing for shelter, food, clothing, medical care, insurance, college and the host of other activities that fill busy lives nowadays. The majority of people fulfill these obligations with varying degrees of success. When the children have grown up, left home and started their own family, we look in the mirror one day and see someone looking back that we don’t recognize. “That can’t be me,” we think, “that person is old!” I even had to go through some old pictures to try to figure out when exactly I was transformed into this “old” person. It all happens so subtly within the framework of our everyday lives that we don’t notice until it hits us one day. Our lives have turned a page and opened a new chapter even if we don’t realize it right away. The aging process was having its effect on us all along we were just too busy living everyday life to notice that very life quickly passing by us.

How we deal with the changes in our lives brought on by aging depends a lot on what we believe about aging. There are many myths concerning the aging process and how people are affected by it. In forthcoming installments we look at some of these myths and how a belief in these myths has an effect on how seniors see themselves and, subsequently, how they live their lives. Myths about aging also shape younger peoples’ perceptions and expectations of older family members and their behavior. These perceptions directly influence the interactions between younger and older family members and the roles they may adopt.

Here are some beliefs that are common about aging, are they myths or are they true?

1) most old people become senile sooner or later

2) old people don’t benefit from education

3) intelligence is highest in the mid-twenties and declines with age

Terry Truhlar has a BA in Psychology and a MS in Gerontology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Email-ttruhlar@yahoo.com