Acknowledging the Positives of Aging
Learn what's good about aging, and how to keep active with age.
Acknowledging the Positives of Aging
Building Blocks
The young-old are individuals over 65 who maintain active, vital lives and an up-to-date interest in larger world around them.
Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., author of A Woman's Book of Life, espouses a view of aging that is positive and invigorating. It is congruent with the fact that the majority of women in their 70s have good health and are capable of intellectual and psychological growth. The myth surrounding women's later years that projects an image of inactive, sickly, and passive individuals should not prevail, she says. In fact, Borysenko advises women to set their goals on becoming one of the young-old.
The young-old women she refers to…
- Have most generally used time in their earlier adult life productively, heightened their ability to empathize, and have been compassionate. Normally these women, Borysenko claims, do not become bitter, inhibited, inactive, or destructive later in life.
- Prevent a loss of function in older age by maintaining an active life that is both physically and intellectually challenging.
- Do not allow themselves to fall into a state of depression, especially after the loss of a spouse or companion. Instead they flourish in a state of activity and new discovery.
- Are vessels of wisdom and vision.
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