What is So Good About Growing Old – Forget about senior moments. The great news is that researchers are discovering some surprising advantages of aging – By Helen Fields, Smithsonian Magazine, July-August 2012
I’m sure you have had moments of clarity that linger in your mind, year after year, occasionally spontaneously replaying as if they happened yesterday. For me, one of those moments took place years ago as my siblings and I prepared for my father’s retirement party from a long and demanding career. My dad, lost in thought among the bustle, said, “If I could go back and change anything from the last 4 decades, it would be to realize that none of what I was doing at work really mattered half as much as I thought it should.” I was stung by the longing regret of the losses suffered in the urgency of youth.
In her article Helen Fields normalizes the phenomenon. (Who hasn’t shed a tear listening to Harry Chapin’s Cat’s Cradle?) Fields also notes that current research reveals “negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and fear become less pronounced [during old age] than in our drama-filled younger years.” How defeating it is that our developmental instinct has us waiting until twilight years to begin to fully enjoy the moment rather than have it shrouded by drive, worry and business. Let’s see what we can do about that.