KEYS TO QUALITY OF LIFE AS WE AGE - PART 1 Stereotypes of Aging by Stephanie Whitten “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain Over the decades when thinking of aging, the mind conjures up images of people with gray hair, walking bent over with a cane, and conversations repeating the same answer repeatedly. This vision depicts the daily perceptions of aging and the elderly with stereotypes that are not attractive. I have seen it on a regular basis and experienced it myself, 8 years doing home care and going back to school for Health and Fitness Science at the age of 47. I have cared for the elderly, watching, and helping them in all kinds of capacities. Preparing food, surgery recovery, going for walks, in and out of beds, wheelchairs, showers, balance training, and assisting with stretching and range of motion. I have observed the wide range that ages 45+ can show up in their families’ lives as well as their own. When I registered to go back to school, my very first class was gym and I never thought about my age being a factor in anything I did. I had a torn ligament, tendons, and a cracked wrist from catching a paralyzed patient from falling on the floor. I had 4 pins in my wrist and a cast on my arm from surgery. We had to pick partners for fitness testing, and of course, no one wanted to be partners with the “Old Woman” with the broken arm!!!!LOL!!!! Here I am in a class full of 18 – 25-year Olds at the peak of their physical selves!!! LOL!!! Let me paint this pic.... I am the oldest person in class. Yep!! Kinda intimidating!! No, not really, because I knew why I was there. I knew who I was and what I could do. I knew my passion to help others and nothing was going to stand in my way to learn what I needed to learn, not even a wrist attached to my body with four pins and a cast on it! 24
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