That photo is of the oldest women I have ever met, she was 104 years old and lived with 4 (maybe 5 ) generations of her family in a small village in the mountains of northern Thailand. The blue plastic stool you see is what she used as a walker. When I approached her she was smoking a cigar on one side of her mouth and chewing beetle nut on the other side of her mouth (a commonly chewed red leaf that acts as a stimulant). She was a subject in my very first study, Exploring aging in India and Thailand: Physical function in urban versus rural adults, and since then I’ve continued researching aging in Kinesiology. Most people probably couldn’t turn another year older without thinking about aging, but for me, its a topic I’ve studied for so long that each birthday becomes more meaningful as time goes on. But, as you may have heard before, the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know- and that balance between knowing a lot and not knowing enough about my future-self is admittedly scary. I’m not scared to get older per say, but I am already gearing up for the challenge.

“Aging is a blessing, but its not for the faint of heart” is a quote from my college anatomy teacher, from whom I remember learning a surprising amount, and this quote sticks with me. It couldn’t be more true.

Aging is a blessing. Aging means we get to see another day. Another one of my favorite quotes is, “I’d rather be on the ground and on my knees than six feet under”. I’ve had the privilege of working with older adults for over ten years now (wow).  I learned so much from them. They would never trade being younger for the journey they’ve had. The good times outweigh the bad. Life is far too short as it is and its gone in a flash. ‘Feeling your age’ isn’t really a thing. Losing the people you love is unavoidable. You change, grow, and develop new interests and talents at any and every age. You settle into who you are and what you want, and finally not caring what anyone thinks anymore means you live your best life. Its never too late. Family and companionship are everything. A purposeful life is a happy life. Most importantly they taught me that life is so good, and no matter how bad things get- those times will pass, and life is always worth fighting for.

But, getting older is not for the faint of heart. The ‘greatest generation’, our current senior citizens, have lived through so much history and demonstrate such resilience.  Beyond adapting to the greatest industrial and technological evolution to date, they survived the depression, world wars, and countless accounts of personal tragedy. Unfortunately, today’s older adults deal with the repercussions of living longer without the benefits of preventative medicine (like exercise). That means those individuals never knew exercise was good and smoking cigarettes, sunbathing, and dumping sugar in everything was bad for you- but they’re living longer anyway and often have chronic preventable diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.). This leads to older adults suffering increased medical costs and financial burdens, losing their independence, and lowering their quality of life. I’ll try not to bore you with too much science, but the gist is that modern medicine allows us to live much longer, but maybe not better.

In the face of too much knowledge, I can only let go and focus on aging gracefully. As an aging researcher, I know that that no matter your age, you can always improve- the earlier you start the better. I find myself finally understanding all of the advice and wisdom I’ve heard from those older and wiser. I can already see the signs of time and stress taking its toll and my ‘prime’ has long passed (I think I aged at least ten years while I was trying to qualify for my PhD). It’s funny how you really don’t notice on a day-to-day basis, but I look back at (pre-facebook) photos and that’s when I see the shocking baby-face that is past-self. I can only take solace in this: after all of the scars and stories, I feel like I’ve already lived several lifetimes and I really wouldn’t trade places with that baby-faced little girl.

Indeed, it is a greater demonstration of strength to embrace aging than to run from it. I hereby pledge to fight the urge to fight the aging process in gratitude for another day. I look forward to sharing the passage of time with you all.

Side note: Okay Okay, I have to throw some science out here. My quick-lesson from my research is that if you walk slowly in older age, especially when you’re doing two things at once, you are more likely to be mobility impaired [1], suffer an injurious fall [2], or have mild cognitive impairment [3].

Power walk, people.

 

1) Auvinet, B., Touzard, C., Montestruc, F. Delafond, A. & Gelb, V. (2017) Gait disorders in the elderly and dual task gait analysis: a new approach for identifying motor phenotypes. Journal of NeuroEngineerng and Rehabilitation, 14, 7.

2) Nordin, E., Moe-Nilssen, R., Ramnemark, A., & Lundin-Olsson, L. (2010). Changes in step-width during dual-task walking predicts falls. Gait Posture, 32(1), 92-97.

3) Segev-Jacubovksi (2011) The interplay between gait, falls and cognition: can cognitive therapy reduce fall risk? DOI:10.1586/ern.11.69.