Personal Narrative : My Late Life Aging

Starting high school can be a little scary, especially when you have no guidance from siblings, like me, being the first one from my family to have an education. But that did not stop me from succeeding, I?ve always been confident and determined. I?m an enthusiastic when it comes to trying new things. Who would have thought I was going to be a good athlete plus a book geek, when in my past years I was just a regular kid. I was pretty excited about joining a club that had a connection with high school, that way I didn?t have to start from zero, I always want to be a step ahead. Fortunately, in summer, a high school coach was recruiting freshmen for running either cross country or track, they both involve running, so I considered it like the same sport with different timing. And this is when it all started. Running

The journey through late adulthood can be experienced in different ways. One particular movie entitled “The Bucket List” exhibits an astounding portrayal of late adulthood. In fact, there are many accounts that the movie entails about late-adulthood. This includes the illustration of Erickson’s late adulthood stage – “Ego Integrity vs. Despair,” wisdom, marriage, friendship, parent-child relationship, and death and dying in late adulthood.

Thinking about death and dying is a very difficult subject to approach. There are movies, television shows, songs, books, and real life situations that basically force us to think about death and dying daily in one way or another. When we consider real life situations either involving our loved ones or ourselves, we must think about the ways in which we may be treated and how this treatment may affect our understanding of death and our role in the process. I am going to address this as well as how the ways in which people treat those who were dying many years ago compared to in our modern time is significantly different. There is also a phrase that is commonly being used in the United States known as the “medicalization of death”. I am going

“Ordinary people” everywhere are faced day after day with the ever so common tragedy of losing a loved one. As we all know death is inevitable. We live with this harsh reality in the back of our mind’s eye. Only when we are shoved in the depths of despair can we truly understand the multitude of emotions brought forth. Although people may try to be empathetic, no one can truly grasp the rawness felt inside of a shattered heart until death has knocked at their door. We live in an environment where death is invisible and denied, yet we have become desensitized to it. These inconsistencies appear in the extent to which families are personally affected by death—whether they

I watched another man having a mid-life crisis, pull out of the Novak car dealership across the street in a silver convertible. My uncle ran that dealership. I scanned my dad’s car lot; the cars were much older with red numbers written on the windshields, and they were Hondas rather than BMWs. Dad was having an intense phone call in the dimly lit back office. From where I sat at the desk, I could hear snippets of the conversation that filtered through the gap through the door.

In order to explore the individual experiences of an older adult in the United States, we conducted an interview of a 78-year-old white male living in Silver Spring, Maryland. Throughout this paper, the interviewee will be referred to as Edgar; this is not his real name. The interview was conducted in the home of one of the interviewers because it is close to Edgar’s home. Throughout the interview, we discussed Edgar’s personal experiences with ageism, the physical and psychological effects of aging, family and social supports in old age, and the transition from work to retirement. While his experiences with personal aging are similar to that of many other individuals his age, his experience as full-time male caregiver offers unique insight into an unofficial occupation dominated by women.

My early years were a patchwork of typical suburban activities--school projects, basketball teams, and zany summer camps. I hung out with friends from church who lived generally carefree lives with few heavy responsibilities. Naturally, I fell into the same boat just through my own assimilation into that core group of friends. Recently, my father stepped down as the lead pastor of our church to pursue a different calling as a missionary consultant to churches across the United States. The week after my parents said their final good-byes to the congregation, my brother went off to college in Arizona, followed by the start of my senior year of high school. Everything was happening so quickly at that time, but it wasn’t

Death does not give meaning to life, but does provide the backdrop against which life is lived” which, I can understand and appreciate. Amid life there is death, but it doesn’t have to be a death sentence. When the elderly prepare for death it is an event all its own since the person gets the opportunity to make his/her decisions about how he/she wishes to leave this world. It also takes the burden off the bereaved family and makes everyone more comfortable that the final decision does not rest with them. As Novak (2012) pointed out “people who have to cope with death and dying – patients, their families, and medical staff – now have a number of ways to think and talk about death” (p. 415). In the PBS videos (2007), Anne, the niece of Mary Leonard, 84, who suffered from lung cancer spoke of how direct her aunt was in life and death. Aunt Mary was composed and “ok with it” she said; its as if she had already crossed over emotionally and “was comfortable with it”. What she was happy with was the fact she was able to share that huge milestone (of death) with

For the home visit requirement of NURS482, I have chosen to visit an older adult. As a baby boomer myself, I am looking forward to maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle as I age. My role as an RN has been non-traditional, therefore, I am looking forward to the learning opportunity this assignment will provide, helping to me to better understand the challenges that an older adult may face while still maintaining a positive and fulfilling lifestyle.

We all are currently aging. We live in an again paradox. But, it is what we choose to do with our time while we have it that counts the most. As a young adult, and before this class I was very unaware of the importance of planning your retirement as early as possible. There are many things that go into planning for a successful retirement. Such as, but not limited to: Where will I choose to live? What will I do to stay mentally active? Or even, when will I choose to retire. In this paper, I will go over a plethora of aspects for my personal plan for aging.

In the first telling of my personal narrative, I did not consider including what had led me to a point where I began to embrace my identities and become proud of my heritage as Korean. There were many factors that led me to be who I am today. The reason for leaving out the information was because there were so many people and occurrences that led me to the point where I am now. For example, moving to different elementary school where there were more diverse body of students, annually performing at the Mosaic in the Korean pavilion, my parents being a positive role model, and becoming a volunteer teacher at the Korean Language School are some of the reasons which have led me to be who I am today. As I was surrounded by people who were interested

Late adulthood is known as the period of life after middle adulthood, usually from around 65 years old to death (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). There are many varying stages of development and health in late adulthood, along with steady changing of life expectancy. Aging is a part of life, and with it comes changes in every area of living. Many diseases find late adulthood as an opportune time to affect people. Eventually, whether caused by disease or another reason, every individual dies. Death is unique to every person, and healthcare in America is changing to reflect that. This stage of life is a time when bodily processes and functions may be decreasing, but depending on lifestyle choices, death can come at different times.

At seventy-five years old I imagine my life to be vibrant and multidimensional. I looked at the realities of my relatives at this age including my grandparents and parents to give me a better idea of what my life might look like. The people who were alive at this age were healthy some still road horses or climbed mountains, and my father still bikes long distances at 73. So I see myself as very active, both in the outdoors, as well as the community. I see my life I think I will continue traveling often and volunteering. At this moment I am unsure where I will be living, possibly overseas. I know I will be in close contact with friends and family. I am choosing to see my life as healthy as the family members

In spite of this painful occurrence happening to me at twenty-four years of age, emotions such as shock, anger, and guilt, came into play creating chaos. I rerun her death in my mind, yet unable to completely forget the sadness, similar to a synopsis. These feelings can be frightening and overwhelming; however I have learned how to cope and with the realization that life and death are phenomenal both intertwined. I speculate that

     During this closing period in the life span of human beings, people tend to “move away” from previous more desirable periods often known as “usefulness”.