Growing Older, But Not Growing Old
By: Max K. Erkiletian
Tags: Aging, Humor, Mental Health, Lessons Learned, Positive Thinking

Attitude, Attitude, Attitude

Photo by Alex Wilken from Pixabay

An Irish study a few years ago found one of the most important elements in maintaining physical and cognitive health as we age is attitude. Of course, that cuts both ways.

“Everyone will grow older,” says the study’s lead researcher Deirdre Robertson, “and if negative attitudes towards aging are carried throughout life, they can have a detrimental, measurable effect on mental, physical, and cognitive health.”

If that’s not good enough, here’s what George Burns said about aging:

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.”

Remember, that comes from a man who once played God!

I’ve never understood the aversion to getting older.

I remember as a preschooler being in awe of a little restaurant on the corner across from the junior high school in my hometown. The restaurant was torn down decades ago and a new junior high was built across town.

Finley’s corner opened an hour before school started and closed an hour after school ended. My older brothers hung out there with other junior and high school kids.

One day my mother took me into this exotic place and we sat at the counter and drank coca-cola served by the man himself, Mr. Finley. Though my feet dangled from the stool about two feet from the floor, I felt I had hit the big time.

If I had known the quote from jazz great Fats Waller, I probably would have invoked it - “Somebody shoot me while I’m happy.”

It was intoxicating having the legendary Mr. Finley engage me in typical adult to child banter: “How old are you?” “Do you go to school yet?” And me responding in typical child to adult diatribes. “I have a dog.” “His name is Laddie.” “I named him after Lassie, but he’s a boy, so I couldn’t name him Lassie.” (This was the 1950s. Naming was more tied to gender then.)

Maybe it was the familiarity we were building; maybe it was the carbonation or sugar from all the soda. Whatever, it was, I dropped all sense of decorum and referred to Mr. Finley by the name all the older kids used — “Old Man Finley.”

My embarrassed Mother admonished me not to speak to Mr. Finley “that way”.

“That’s alright,” Mr. Finley said. “that’s what all the kids call me.”

My mother and I remembered and laughed about the incident from then on. I also remembered Mr. Finley’s attitude. He was not only amused, but he also seemed sort of proud.

That’s the way I feel. I’ve worked all my life to get older. I’m proud of it and I’m determined to enjoy it.

Not only do I feel intuitively that an optimistic approach to aging will help me live a better life, but there is also more science to back that up.

In 2018, a Yale School of Public Health study found that a positive attitude about getting older significantly reduced the likelihood of developing dementia.

To me having a good attitude about growing older has always been linked to humor.

“He’s so old that when he orders a three-minute egg, they ask for the money upfront.”

That’s from that Burns fellow again. He not only lived to be 100. He started his solo career as a comedian when he was 80.

Sure, with age you may have to moderate your lifestyle a little.

You may not be able to say, eat, drink, and be merry.

You can say, eat (wisely), drink (moderately), walk (once a day), take a nap (when you don’t get eight hours of sleep), and be happy you’ve made it this far.