The Awakening: Self-Empowerment of Older Adults

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The dictionary defines self-empowerment to mean an individual who is in control of his or her life and views the trials they face in life in a positive way. It is also about building self-esteem and confidence. With the right kind of motivation, a person can be empowered to have a happier life as they move through the transitions of aging. To be truly self-empowered means that you have the ability inside yourself to know what is really best for you. Therefore, your actions reflect the power of your own strength that you take from making your own decisions. If one is empowered, it is the same as having a clear vision of where to go and how to get there. This knowledge also implies self-belief, self-trust and self-leadership. As unique as we are throughout our lifetimes, we are just as unique in how we age. Some people age with minimal aches and pains, fully conscious mentally and engaging in life to their last breath. For others, aging is not so easy a task. Individuals that are challenged throughout the aging process sometimes forget who they once were due the loss of control they feel when making their own daily decisions. Continued research in the field of self-empowerment might then be focused on how we can teach continued empowerment to all individuals, no matter what stage of their life they are experiencing, in order to lead happier and more fulfilling lives as they move through this final, and hopefully best part of their lives.

In his article entitled, The Centenarian, author Henry J. Aaron notes that by the middle of this century, there will be more than one-million people living in the United States who are over 100 years-of-age. In 1960, there were one-million 85 year-olds. At the beginning of the twentieth-cen...

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doi:10.1080/13607860601086546

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