Prescription for fighting aging: A daily dose of optimism, good humor and prayer

This article won’t win me any brownie points from some readers, but for all of you “over-the-hill” gang, let’s face it: We are going to get older and with that comes the possibility of losing our independence.

We all probably have that magic age in our minds we hope to reach. I, myself, am shooting for 100. Why? No particular reason. It just sounds like a nice round number, so, why not? I shared this bit of information with a relative a little older than me, and she agreed that it would be nice but only if it could be a healthy 100. We see friends and relatives already in a position where they’re unable to care for themselves and have to rely on their children and others or eventually require the services of a nursing facility. We don’t want to be anyone else’s responsibility.

An 80 year old friend recently had this realization hit home when she — always an active person, even after knee replacements and shoulder surgeries — had another debilitating illness that put her on her backside for a month. It made her totally dependent on family and friends for her daily needs.

She, like myself, has optimistic attitudes about life in general. Neither of us are ones to take things laying down, so, after conversing about the situation, we agreed that regardless of what stage of helplessness we find ourselves in, we should still be grateful for the little things we are still able to do.

She said that as long as she could get to church, she’d be happy. We find that by mingling with friends who are optimistic and strong in their faith, we can feed off of their strength when ours might falter. Laughter with friends won’t make us well, but it sure makes us feel better.

Here’s an example. Recently while shopping for groceries, I noticed an elderly gentleman release his cart handle to squat down to retrieve an item from the bottom shelf, and I said, ”Wow, you can still do that?”

“Yes,” he said. “but you might not want to see what a problem it’s going to be when I try to get up.”

We both laughed.

I guess the main thing we all hope for is that we don’t reach the point where we’re unable to drive. The inability to drive ourselves to places for things we need and to places we want to go — to church, shopping, doctor’s appointments and visits with friends —is the major setback we don’t want to face. The folks I’ve talked to just want to drive, drive, drive. When we no longer can safely, we will accept it gracefully and put the car keys away for our own safety and the safety of other drivers on the road.

I asked a nurse I know about a patient she cares for and what bothers him most about getting older.

“The biggest thing ... is the fact he can’t play golf with his buddies. He has to depend on somebody to drive him. He gets mad at himself when he can’t get his thoughts together or he has to ask for help in the bathroom. Most of the patients under my care at the nursing facility where I work say about the same thing.”

I’m a staunch believer in prayer and I know this inevitable loss of independence will hit me one day.

But right now, I’m too busy to think about it.

I’ve amended one line — Matthew 6:11 — in the Lord’s Prayer to read: “Give us this day our daily bread so that we may touch and smell it, have the eyesight to see it, the teeth to bite it and be able to hear as we chew and taste it.” Retaining all of our five senses — sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch — plays a tremendous part in our daily life of living independently.

If there was a pill to cure the possibility of losing our independence, my prescription would be: “A good dose of an optimistic outlook on life, taken with a healthy sense of humor and given with a life-long availability of refills.”