“Do not regret growing older. It’s a privilege denied to many.”- Unknown

Old age comprises “the later part of life; the period of life after youth and middle age . . . , usually with reference to deterioration”. No matter what lengths we go to, to stay young, there will always be that fear in the back of our minds of getting old. We fear the mental and physical decline. The thought of not remembering our past or even friends and families is scary, what is there to like about forget all the wonderful memories that took us so long to accumulate. Being old is always difficult. To be old means to have physical health problems; it means to go through mental health problems; and, most difficult it means to experience emotional problems. Gradual memory decline is part of normal aging.

Even more confusingly, we don’t experience old age identically. As Germaine Greer puts it, “Nobody ages like anybody else.” We are as old as we feel. We should try and keep positive about getting older and not assume we will be frail.  The way a person adapts and copes, reflects his aging process on a psycho-social level. We can either look at the downside of life or switch up the way we look at things and think of how much life is a gift that we are meant to enjoy and live to its fullest. Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity. Successfully completing this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general feeling of satisfaction.

Old age is unavoidable, but is living life as an old person also unavoidable? We should not think of age as something to be distraught about, but try to switch our mindset to a more positive outlook. For many of us, with maturity comes a much deeper appreciation for the little things in life that makes us so happy. Why not look at age and birthdays as a celebration; motivating us to live more in the moment and become an even happier person than we are today. Age is just a mindset. We should choose to see it as an opportunity to be who we really are meant to be, love more than we ever have and treat ourselves even better than we do today . This is how we would be able to bear the curses of old age with grace and happiness!

“Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.” ― Christopher Morley

Contributed by:

Rukhsana Saifee, Associate Professor of English, Chartered Institute of Technology, Abu Road