Aging was once almost like a straight line. And when you got to a certain age, people almost wanted you to shrink that world and get smaller or quieter, like life had turned itself inward. But you’ve just been realizing that lately it’s not quite as neat. And frankly, that is a great relief. The world is on the go and on, often a bit too much or a little too little, and you’ve got to learn that as we get older, you are a part of a much, much bigger conversation than before. Sometimes you are holding a cup of tea and wonder what life looks like today, and how much closer it resembles your parents when they were the same age you are. Growing older back then was about routines, which seldom shifted anyway. These days, the routines are out there, and the routines want to reinvent themselves, so, surprisingly enough, you do too.
1) Tradition Still Matters, But It Doesn’t Rule
Tradition feels nice. Recipes you pass down, small rituals, stories that you have repeated so many times, have embedded themselves into our being. Some of them you still hold on to because they remind you that there are many generations behind you. But you’ve also come to find that tradition, if you treat it like it’s a thing you’re not allowed to grow out of, can sometimes feel weighty.
Aging in this era asks you, in soft but no uncertain terms, to consider what still fits and what you can put aside. Now that doesn’t always feel obvious. Some days you’re a great deal freer to change, other days you get caught up in things you used to do.
2) Technology And The Older Adult
Everyone is talking about technology now. But it is actually changing the way you age. And some mornings you find yourself laughing at how, when you were younger, you were absolutely unable to learn anything digital, and now you’re video chatting with your grandkids, and paying bills on a device that’s thinner than a notebook. Technology keeps you connected, sometimes in surprisingly gentle ways. But it also calls on you to be patient with yourself if things go wrong. You still hit the wrong button more frequently than you want to admit.
Conversations about nursing home abuse prevention, for instance, are becoming more frank. It feels a little awkward — and empowering to know you can demand that you and the people you love receive those same safer treatments. And you need to figure out how to speak up to make that feel more likely to happen.
3) Finding Our Voice In A Noisy World
There are times when the world seems to be inescapable. Everything is louder. Opinions, reports on what the public thinks, and advice from people who have never walked in our shoes. Sometimes you just want to sit still and take your own opinions in again. But you have learned that voice in this changing world doesn’t need to be shouted. It just takes showing up. Stating what matters — even if it’s a tad slower than you talk or is a little sweeter than you are. showing up.
4) Conclusion
If the steps are hazy. Aging right now is not the past being held and the future being rushed. It’s a lot more like figuring out the way to do both, with a little wobble now and then. You can be hopeful, cautious, curious, tired, and inspired simultaneously. And maybe that, in particular, is the beauty of this new era. There’s space for us to reconsider what getting old really means without losing who we are in the process.
