Thanks for this post Leanne. My friends and I discuss this more frequently as we enter our next decade. My 91 year old mother-in-law ran a business and traveled the world advising CEO's about how to manage their business and relationships. We are acutely aware she does not remember what we say to her now and struggle to help her compensate. She is painfully aware of it. I encourage her to talk to us about it and she does which helps us all.
I start my day with a jigsaw puzzle showing a beautiful place to gently wake up my mind. Then I do Wordle. I have incorporated strategies in my daily routines to help me keep my mind as sharp as I can. I find myself asking friends, have I told you this story before? I don't want to repeat myself and leave them bored.
I advised patients and their family members on strategies about how to stay connected and maintaining bonds. For people with memory issues, reminiscing works so well. Sharing memories of past events and time spent can trigger cloudy memories in those you care about and shared time with. Sharing photographs and talking about who is in them and where they were taken can be a wonderful thing to do when you visit your friends. Also playing music from shared time together triggers that part of our brain that we thought was not fully working. That is why when we hear a song we have not heard for many years the words come pouring out of us and we instantly remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard it in the past. Those are just some thoughts I had in response to your substack. My dad used to tell me when he was in his nineties that "getting old is not for sissies." It was his way of saying be patient with me and understand sometimes my days are not easy. I think he also wanted to prepare me for my own aging. Especially as I age I have more compassion for others who age with me and relish all the more the happy moments. I cherish the past beloved memories grateful that I had them with friends and family that are no longer with me either literally or figuratively. There are still moments of joy to be had. We may have to look a little harder to find them or develop ways to tap into them but they are there.
Thanks for this post Leanne. My friends and I discuss this more frequently as we enter our next decade. My 91 year old mother-in-law ran a business and traveled the world advising CEO's about how to manage their business and relationships. We are acutely aware she does not remember what we say to her now and struggle to help her compensate. She is painfully aware of it. I encourage her to talk to us about it and she does which helps us all.
I start my day with a jigsaw puzzle showing a beautiful place to gently wake up my mind. Then I do Wordle. I have incorporated strategies in my daily routines to help me keep my mind as sharp as I can. I find myself asking friends, have I told you this story before? I don't want to repeat myself and leave them bored.
I advised patients and their family members on strategies about how to stay connected and maintaining bonds. For people with memory issues, reminiscing works so well. Sharing memories of past events and time spent can trigger cloudy memories in those you care about and shared time with. Sharing photographs and talking about who is in them and where they were taken can be a wonderful thing to do when you visit your friends. Also playing music from shared time together triggers that part of our brain that we thought was not fully working. That is why when we hear a song we have not heard for many years the words come pouring out of us and we instantly remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard it in the past. Those are just some thoughts I had in response to your substack. My dad used to tell me when he was in his nineties that "getting old is not for sissies." It was his way of saying be patient with me and understand sometimes my days are not easy. I think he also wanted to prepare me for my own aging. Especially as I age I have more compassion for others who age with me and relish all the more the happy moments. I cherish the past beloved memories grateful that I had them with friends and family that are no longer with me either literally or figuratively. There are still moments of joy to be had. We may have to look a little harder to find them or develop ways to tap into them but they are there.
Oh, Iris, what a helpful comment. I know you have deep experience and I'm really grateful that you're sharing it here. xoxo