Getting Older

No, I didn’t say getting old. No, this post is not about old age. I’m not sure that thinking about entering old age is very helpful. The stereotype that we have created in this society around old age is a very negative one. In many cases we do learn from our mistakes. We do become wiser, hopefully, with age. Granted, this is not true for all of us but I think it is for most.

We don’t all become drooling and doddering fools as we get older.

But there is a negative side. Getting older usually means that some things that worked better when we were younger don’t work as well. For example, my eyes. My optometrist tells me that cataracts are growing and at some point I’m going to have to have surgery. He gives me some hope, however, that if I have cataract surgery, my vision will be restored and improved in a number of ways. And my ears don’t work as well as they used to. I don’t need hearing aids, I don’t think. At least, not yet.  But I’m sure I may.

But perhaps the biggest potential negative for me is the recognition that I am mortal. I, like everyone else on this planet, will die at some point. How many more years do I have? Ten?  Fifteen? Twenty? Thirty? It could all end tomorrow. I said "potential negative" because I think it’s how we answer that question about what will we do when we realize our mortality, how we use whatever time is still ahead of us. What purpose will we create for ourselves?

This raises another major issue for me and I think for most people as they get into their late 50s and early 60s. It is the issue of retirement. Do we or don’t we, and if we choose to, how will we be able to? I’ll talk more about the issue of retirement in the next blog, since it certainly deserves more space and time than I have in this one.