Reflection On The Myths And Facts Of Aging

After my phone conversation, I was able to meet with her in person. It was a really fruitful and a pleasant experience just as I expected. She was very friendly and open to discuss some more details I was looking for related to my project. For this interview, I decided to switch gears and ask her about her views on some big topics such as cultural diversity and how she was able to fit in as well as her adjustment towards aging. Since I already have most of the details about her first experiences moving to America and finding a profession of her choice, I decided to dive even further into that to keep the conversation going. Some of the questions that I asked her were about how much diversity she witnessed in her work environment as well as if diversity helped shape her social style in any way and what she would do to help create a more inclusive and diverse environment. She told me that it is very important to work with people who are different and that it is not just about culture and religion, but also about working with people who come from different education backgrounds and experiences.
My initial perspectives

after the first meeting have not really changed. I still found the conversation with her to be compelling, and I think that I may have gotten more of a productive encounter with her since it was a face to face interaction. Some initial connections I am making between my observations and the material covered in class is with Erikson’s eighth stage of development, which is integrity versus despair. In this stage of late adulthood, the lessons people learn in their earlier stages of development will contribute to one’s wisdom in old age (as cited in Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda 1998, p. 216). She did exhibit that as she seemed to have a sense of integrity and found meaning and contentment in the road that she traveled on. In the first interview when she was describing how hard it was for her to speak English at first and against all odds she was still able to find a job. I could tell from her voice that she felt a great deal of satisfaction in finding a job easily despite her friends and family saying otherwise. Everyone takes pride in achieving what others consider difficult.
One interesting thing to note is that in chapter “The Myths and Facts of Aging”, one of the biological myths is that those who are over sixty five years of age have at least one chronic condition such as arthritis, hypertension, or diabetes (as cited in Harrigan & Farmer, p.

34). But my subject doesn’t seem to have any real chronic condition. In fact, as I mentioned before prior to the first interview, she takes yoga classes during the weekend. Even at her age, she is still an active woman. Looking at her living arrangements, it seems to have fit the statistic described in the Mcinnis chapter, which is that 2/3 of older adults live in a family setting (as cited in Mcinnis, p. 5). She told me that over a period of time, one’s priorities in life shift. So she tries to stay fit in order to play with her grandkids more and so she can see them grow

up.