Ageing, including our earth, is a reality and can be full of opportunities, strengths, doubts and vulnerabilities. The aging process can extend your lived understanding and prior learning knowledge. Some days may be easier than others. You could become pessimistic and lose hope that your situation will improve.
If it were not for the darker moments, how much would you be able to recognize, reflect on and thoroughly enjoy current and future happy times? Smile often, eat well, value time for rest and recreation, undertake physical exercise and regularly learn something new. Each day you grow older, you can learn from previous experiences.
You can make a difference in the world, ranging from your kind words and actions, being a social role model, offering a helping hand, and through your creative and meaningful works that may survive into the next generations. You could reach out to family and friends and support each other to be generative rather than stagnate. A problem shared can sometimes be a challenge halved.
Psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson wrote about these varying psychosocial stages of human development.
| Sources of age-related stress or trauma |
| Inadequate self-esteem and self-confidence.
Seniors may become despondent and stressed about the suffering of their family members and friends who are away from them. |
| Grief, loneliness, fears and uncertainties often worsen with limited physical stamina, cognitive processing issues, and long-term disabilities. |
| Significant health problems include diseases and anxieties about COVID-19, Monkey Pox and their variants.
Problems include lessening mobility and flexibility with arthritis, cardiac and hypertensive disorders, diabetes mellitus, cancer, heart, lungs, kidneys, intestines, and urinary tract conditions. |
| Contextual and developmental crises marked by the loss of intimate partners, degenerative health conditions, and loss of work status exacerbate emotional scars and cognitive distortions, heightening the risks of self-harming. |
| Confusion about social and personal identities. |
| Inadequate coping skills and independence. |
| Social isolation could have detrimental effects on family relationships and friendships. |
| Financial instability and uncertainty make maintaining and developing connections with family members and friends difficult. |
Friends and family can help with their encouragement and support. They often need to know your needs, wants, and choices, and they can provide support as they are able based on their current situations. You can help them by ensuring you have a suitable diet, exercise is essential, and arranging for one or more people to check in on you. Of course, contact with family members may have positive and negative implications. Secure social connections may help you have a sense of identity and adjust your lifestyle with your advancing years.
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