When people talk about aging and how they are not worried or scared of aging, we often focus on the looks:sagging skin, flabby breast (more like flat slippers), receeding hairline, wrinkles and grey hair...all physical stuff. I must confess that until I sat in a mamogram center recently, I too had not given the other side of of aging any thought whatsoever.
As I was sitting in my hospital gown waiting with other women of varied ages for a mamogram examination, this elegant , tall older woman probably about 70 -75 yrs came out from the examination x-ray imaging room and was trying to get back to her own chaning room. She kept opening the wrong doors and bumping into others and then it hit me...and hit me really hard that aging has other effects and issues beyond how we look. Also, when we are young as we are now (I still think I am young...you go figure), we tend to think that we will never age or that aging will ring a bell to announce its arrival and then we can stop it or we will age 'gracefully'...ever heard the popular phrase of aging gracefully???
Coincidentally, my friend and I were making a joke about what her worst disease will be in her old age and we said "definitely Alzheimer disease" since she has a nack for remembering everything and every face in the world that she has come across. But truly, it will be hard to see her not remembering even her own child but this is what aging can trigger.
If you have only thought about aging in terms of looks or menopause, I think it is time to think again. While I agree that there are medical and scientific breakthroughs that can delay aging or or take ages away from our physical looks (Dr. Rey, is making loads of money from this), I have not heard of one that stops it completely. We are toying with hormone replacements at this time...but aging is beyond the physical, hot flashes, Eds (for guys), it is more of the internal decline that we should concern ourselves with and brace up to face. Eating right and living right in your youth is critical but aging is a daily thing and right now, very scary. I imagined the woman I saw at the mamogram center in her youth and I thought...she could not have imagined what age will bring unto her even though she still looks dashing and gorgeous.
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8 comments:
Aging's right at the end of life. I think old age and childhood are the very best parts of life, but others may disagree.
Speaking of looks, I've met smiling, cheerful, 'old' people who look more beautiful than moody people who'd normally be considered 'hot.'
People decide who they want to be when they age. Inactivity seems to be the thing keeping people. Some old people still have young, quick minds -- and bodies.
There's this 70-yr-old man here at our local table tennis club. He beats everyone and I couldn't still beat him a few months ago just after he had heart surgery. In our writing group, there's this 80-something year old man who decided to come to college to while away the time. I'm amazed at the way he writes about his past experiences.
I'll still say we choose how we age. I think I'd like to be someone who goes down with his fighting spirit very strong in him.
Azuka
I agree withyou totally but there are the degeneration of our bodies and consequential effects which we have no control over and that is the bit that is scary but you are right...
Whew...I agree with a lot of the things you said...
Age also happens to be a state of mind though... youre as old as you think you are, despite what your body may say!
Great blog!
Bluntremi thanks. Please 'stop by' often'.
**If you have only thought about aging in terms of looks
I agree..alot of ppl think of aging as a physical thing but it is a physical thing, isnt it? I mean a soul wont grow old..the body does. thats why most of us dun like getting old.
Aging gracefully is all good..but it's something very hard to accept.. We just have to accept it for the sake of it. If there was a choice of getting old or not, which one would we choose? Definitely staying young!
Keshi.
dont count the years
the years u have lived dont make u old
its when u stop living life
u grow old
excuse keshi
she is a dumb blonde with black hair and eyes
Hey Jim, not sure why you think Keshi is dumb as for blonde...I have no comments. Anyway, she made quite a lot of sense with her comments...does the soul age? I know the spirit is ageless...I would think if the soul is same as the mind realm then it may be subject to aging which is the reason we handle a lot more the older we get and have more ressiliance with age...but that is not necessarily the soul getting old...as in decaying...oh no, this looks like a dangerous area to tread...I will have to respect my limited knowledge on this.
Aging is more than physical looks, it involves the uncontollable decaying of the systems in the body but all of them are physical...yes we can still feel and act young in our minds...unfortunately to the point at which the body allows us in some respect.
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