Life is Good: Aging is Part of Living
Written by Don King
We all age, we all know that there’s death coming at the end of our lives. That’s just part of living. It’s something that happens to all human beings.
What would the world be like if people didn’t have such a negative attitude about aging? Aging is part of living, and why would anyone want to give up on any part of living? Life is something we’re given so we might as well enjoy it and do the best we can with it!
I’m a 92 year old man living with dementia and I’m looking forward to my 95th birthday party. After that, I’ll have a 100th birthday party! Looking forward to these milestones keeps me going.
My children, Laurel and Bryan, will tell you that I’m the type of carefree person that just rolls with the punches. They say I have an endless curiosity and am driven by learning and being of value to others.
I suppose that’s why I have a positive attitude towards aging. That’s partly because I make a habit out of finding ways to stay positive in general. I live amongst beautiful surroundings and people, I exercise and eat well, I do Sudoku puzzles, I keep up with the world by reading the paper and watching the news. All of these things give me pleasure and are uplifting to me.
Of course there is stress in life, but how we deal with it matters. I suppose I have a healthy dose of curiosity and so when any stressful situations come along my interest is in looking for solutions instead of allowing it to get the better of me. In my life I have had the good fortune of taking a casual and relaxed approach to difficult situations so when a set of challenging circumstances arose, I was always able to be flexible and diffuse any stress around me. Some might call me “happy go lucky” - I’m ok with the “grey” areas of life. I don’t worry about the small things. This has definitely served me well in aging.
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Aging gives me more time to get to know more people."
- Don King
Aging gives me more time to get to know more people. I’m a real people person. Relationships and connections with others have always been important to me. I’m interested in others as I find I learn a little from everybody that I meet. I enjoy sharing information and experiences with the people in my life as I hope what I have to offer is helpful. I send useful newspaper clippings to my daughter and son and love writing letters to my grandchildren to share stories I hope they will find useful. I’ve always said it’s important to contribute to one’s community - volunteering is something I have done all my life and so I’m always willing to lend a hand to support others when I can.
My advice? Don’t fight aging - just learn to enjoy it. And like Dr. Daniel Levitan says, find the things that give you some pleasure and keep doing them as much as possible. Keep doing what you enjoy, that’s really the basis for living and aging happily.
I’ll end this the way I end my phone calls - by saying “Life is Good!”