Advantages in Aging

 Part three.

Ida Kline ,a century-old aerobics instructor has some ideas about successful aging. According to her“The secret staying young at heart, is staying fit; the key to a long life is to control your worries; I don't worry about tomorrow; if you have a problem and you can't fix it you should dismiss it from your mind.” She believed that so many people waste time worrying when they could be thinking pleasant thoughts. “The best part of living is the people in the world; there are so many wonderful people. That's what keeps me going.” Do you know a 20-year-old that could give you that information? If you do, then you know one smart 20-year-old.

Our experience and history can be better understood, while we mature and age. Likely, we have a better sense of our values, are clearer of our likes and our dislikes, have a better understanding of our motives and desires, realize the important things in life, and have a better understanding of who we really are. Our questions and answers to the important things in our life are likely to be very different from what we thought was important at 30, 40, or when at age 50. There can be more to life than living vicariously through the lives of others. An aged person can be productive, knowledgeable, and have wisdom. The older sage can be a great model and can impart a vigorous and healthy lifestyle. Nutrition, exercise, and a zest for life can be contagious.

According to Erik Erikson, man goes through a series of psychological stages, eight to be exact, throughout the life cycle. His theory is developmental, and each stage has a crisis in which the individual must master while going through. For example, in stage I the infant is faced with the task of developing a sense of trust or a sense of mistrust. In the final stage of Erickson's theory, the individual must confront the crisis of developing a sense of ego integrity or worse, he will wind up with a sense of despair. So Erikson believes that each of us go through a series of successes, triumphs, failures, and disappointments throughout our life cycle. In other words, each of us passes through many different crises during our life cycle. We have to do our best to resolve these at each stage in our development. The more successful we are the greater is the likelihood that we can approach the next stage in a better position to live our life to its fullest. We have to be more than satisfied with who and what we are. Our integrity is what is important. It's our state of mind that we are left with and have at the end. Well, you might ask, what does this have to do with this book? This is your opportunity to rethink your life and to discover your passions by researching and learning about what others before you have done to find their passions and what gives them meaning to their lives.

Reread, assimilate, and accommodate what Ida Kline said. She is my hero. Allow her to be yours. Today is a rest day as I'm only going to walk a short 2 miles. This is one way that I take care of myself.