Getting Older

Getting Older

With this changing world around us; everyone has different feelings and thoughts about getting older. Some people are afraid to get older while others anticipate it. The select few might even try to delay the process by having surgical procedures done to have their body appear to be younger. In these next couple pages I am about to discuss the answers from interviews I preformed. All of the questions were geared towards the aging process and the person’s feelings about growing older. I asked 5 different cohorts (1) the same exact questions. The grouping of the ages was as follows: 1 person from each cohort – age 6-15, I chose 11 year old girl Kayla; age 16-25, I chose 20 year old Tara; age 26-40, I chose 27 year old Vanessa; age 41-65, I chose 52 year old Jack; and age 65 and older, and I chose 82 year old Douglas.

When I examined what they thought was the best thing about aging I found that 3 out of the 5 people (Kayla, Tara, and Vanessa) stated an answer that defined overcoming some certain type of restriction that was either put against them or had no choice in the matter like being done with school and staying up later at night, as well as being able to retire. The other 2 cohorts (John and Douglas) had stated things that were to be gained as they grew older such as maturing and gaining wisdom and knowledge.

The preceding question had asked what age they thought was old. This was interesting because as the person got older, the age at which they considered someone old got increasingly higher. You might laugh at this answer, but 11 year old Kayla responded with the answer of 33 years old. Whereas, 20 Tara stated 60 years of age and up. John stated 90 years old because he was already 52 and figured by the time he’s 90 he’ll have lived most of his life and be ready to accept death. And the answer that I enjoyed the most came from Douglas. He responded with a huge grin on his face saying,”It is not the number or the physical appearance of a person that categorizes them as old, its their love, joy and vigor for life that defines it.” Simply, you are only as old as you feel. Answers to this question I felt were stated very quickly and easily. The people just looked ahead into their lives and chose an age that was 20-50 years older than them.

I then asked a series of questions that dealt with joys, fears, and the good ...

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... not least Douglas, his answer was not an age or a time. Douglas’s response was touching. He said that he would not want to be an age forever, that he had enjoyed his life at every age thus far and couldn’t’ pick an age to live forever because there has been so many joys in his life that have had different significance to him. After thinking about his answer, I too felt that with my optimism for life and what it still has to offer me, that I too will say the same thing when I am his age.

Lastly I will conclude with a question that asked about who and what would be most influential in how they aged. The who part was almost unanimous. Everyone said that their family, friends, peers, and mate’s would have the most effect on how they aged. The what part was interesting too because everyone had replied that their diet, amount of exercise, and how they lived their life would influence their aging process the most.

So, in conclusion, through asking a variety of people these 9 questions, I not only learned a lot about the people themselves, but a lot about my own outlook on life as well as how and what I should work and strive to accomplish to live a long and happy life.