It seems that denial is one of the best defense mechanisms I practice. When I have that option, I can embrace youth, vitality, and optimism. Denying the ravages that old age is producing does nothing to remove them, and it only makes me feel better about my prospects as long as I don't have to face the truth.
I have sought a better way to face old age, and according to people like George Valliant and Gene Cohen, those strategics do exist. They may involve re-framing events to view the successes instead of the failures and the ability to continue to get joy from past positive
experiences.
I don't suggest that we should live in the past, but remembering joy can still give you joy. When it comes to the abilities you feel old age is taking from you, look at the things that old age is giving you.
Wisdom is supposed to be the task of old age. It's said to arrive with the gray hair and creaky knees, but the fact is that wisdom comes from experience, and a lot of that is related to bad choices. Nothing teaches you the wise path like making the wrong choice. One of the wise maneuvers you probably learned as you moved through your younger years had to do with these mistakes.
I learned that I can watch my friends and family and learn from their mistakes as well as my own. I don't have to do everything wrong to learn that it's a bad way to go. I can get a lot of information about bad choices by watching other people and learning from their mistakes. It may not have the same impact as doing it myself, but neither does it have the same consequences.
We try to share this wisdom with younger people, but they all seem to want to do it for themselves. Oh, well, I tried.
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