“Never get old!”
These were the words of the elderly patient I was looking after. I remember his eyes boring into my soul as he leaned over his zimmerframe, a heightened sense of urgency in his voice.
For all the time that I’ve been working part time as a health-care assistant in hospitals, this is a warning I hear over and over again from different patients. The worst part of this repeated warning, I think to myself, is that I can’t exactly help it!
There are two things that can stop the dreaded aging process. Death, or the elixir of youth.
The latter is less likely and would lead to all sorts of ethical issues, and nobody wishes for the former, so I’m at a bit of a loss at what I can do about this.
I don’t blame all of the people who have told me this, as it’s usually meant to be somewhat encouraging despite its ominous undertones, and it comes with the downsides of being in hospital, such as compromised health.
Scarily it correlated with a trend I’ve noticed for my age group, being in my twenties, is that it seems to be the time where people tend to scream out “I’m sooo old” even though they are roughly only a quarter of their life expectancy, and none of the symptoms of old age has yet set in.
Nevertheless it’s the time when we realise that we’re only half way or so to being “middle aged”, and that can be very frightening for some indeed. Now if you’re one of these people, please don’t fret, or cry, as I have the solution (no it’s still not the elixir of youth).
Taking it back to my previous post, it’s as simple as a change in perspective! Embrace the time you’re living in and the people around you. It’s easy to go on through life, whether you’re studying or working, with the attitude of getting to the next step and often thinking about the future. This isn’t necessarily wrong but it can end up clouding the simple and precious things that we take for granted – such as good health.
Life always has its difficulties, but living through the moment is what makes it special, and when it’s our time to peer over the zimmerframe and mutter wise words of wisdom we can say something positive such as “When I was younger I made sure every moment counted, and I still do!” 🙂
~ Nebz
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