By Nickolas Kouravanas
Elderly people may remain in the period which is called as adulthood, but some of the things they gained in adulthood are no longer there. We would say that elderly is a stage directly related to many losses, as elder lose their jobs, when they retire, they lose their strengths, their acute cognitive functions, many people from their environment, roles they had in society and their health. The elderly person usually underestimates or ignores the sense of danger and also can be led to some impulsive behaviors, such as crossing an expressway or a highway while ignoring cars that are passing by. The elderly people often ignore the needs of others and feel that they have to accept the care offered by their environment, something that is more pronounced in times when a disease occurs.
There is also lack of discipline, disobedience and disgrace, believing that they will be able to hide their feelings from others. Sometimes they avoid behaviors that seem difficult to them and live far from contracts and musts, shoulds and oughts. It is a sensitive age where individuals need the acceptance of others and a sense of recognition. They often look for friends and their company, that’s why they go on excursions and they have an intensive desire for adventure. The elderly go through phases of loneliness and have a tendency to introversion, but also they experience periods of intense socialization. They often feel marginalized and they experience social exclusion. The elderly are often overwhelmed by existential issues and questions such as: What is life? What is death? What is there after death? The elderly need to find ways to alleviate the fear and the anxiety of death and they also need to rationalize the losses they are experiencing.
During elderly years, persons have a more structured identity and they are in a constant re-evaluation of their life, possessed by intense nostalgia or discomfort for all the repressed things they wanted but they didn’t achieve to do, for all those things which did not take place, although they often justify their choices so that they can withstand the harshness of reality. The elderly persons are asked to adapt to their new image. The great and well known writer Jonathan Swift had expressed the view that "every human being wants to live for a long period of time, but no one wants to grow old". His phrase nowadays seems to be more relevant than ever, as seniors are a category of people who are marginalized. Lifestyle magazines and in general all the media including social media, show more often young people and additionally they give a step to presenters and interviewees of young age or middle-aged and much less often to seniors.
How many elderly people feel lonely and are cut off from friends and relatives? It may be a little easier for men to hang out as there is a common point of reference, a meeting place: the cafe. However, elderly women who try to join and develop friendships, face some difficulties. Of course, friendship is important and equally necessary for both genders. It is a deep relationship that presupposes and is based on emotional touch, understanding, sharing and interaction. The person from the moment s/he realizes how fragile and vulnerable s/he is, shows various fears for himself or herself and the life in future. Establishing these fears and their persistence over time could turn those fears into phobias, which follow the person at every moment and step in his or her life. The older we get, the more we feel that our health and our physical integrity are in danger, as a result we develop more negative thoughts.
Rejecting the generally accepted theory that the brain "weakens" with age, a study showed that the brain of the elderly is not slower" than that of young people but is also wiser, allowing them to make better use of their potential and achieve similar or better performance. Older people use their brains more efficiently, recruiting only specific areas of the brain that led to better performance, while reacting better and calmer when making mistakes. Research has also found that the brains of older people are less affected by criticism and are more confident than the brains of younger people. A key feature of seniors is that they know how to make better use of their skills. The third age is the time when a human, has gathered the wisdom of life, can see the world with different eyes, rejoice and pay attention to simple things that young people overlook and that do not yet have the maturity needed to appreciate. It is an equally creative, productive and dynamic period in people's lives, where experience makes some things seem easier, because the person knows how to manage them. Also, seniors learn to accept the constant changes in their lives and can cope better with conflicts, as they are more consensual than young people who tend to make things worse with their aggressive attitude. They also recognize that individuals' values and views differ, so they believe that there must be tolerance and mutual understanding, that life is full of inevitable uncertainties, that change in everything is law and that one must accept it.
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