Here is some advice that I found on a website (and I agree with):
[1. Invest in a career that gives you a sense of purpose – not just money. 2. Take care of your body today like you will live to 100 years old – a healthy body will give you a greater chance to enjoy old age without illness or chronic disease. 3. Say yes to new opportunities. You’re more likely to regret a ‘no’ than a ‘yes’. 4. Choose your life-partner carefully. Don’t make any hasty decisions when it comes to deciding with whom to spend your life. 5. Prioritize traveling! Experiences create the best memories. Stuff is perishable. 6. Say it while you still can. Don’t regret that you held something back when it’s too late to say it. 7. Don’t waste any time. Live life like it’s short – because it is. 8. Happiness isn’t something that occurs when conditions are more or less perfect in your life, you have to make a conscious choice to be happy. 9. Time spent worrying is wasted, so stop doing it! 10. If you want to get as much as possible out of life, focus on the little things. Find joy in the small moments and events that occur every day.]
I would add to “find your peace.” Have a place in your house/apartment that is just for relaxing. Also, have you ever marveled at a giant tree? How has that tree survived all the storms that have come its way? It bends. So you’ll have your good days and bad days, but don’t let the bad days break you. Bend.
Finally, Mark Twain said, Sing like no one is listening, love like you’ve never been hurt, dance like no one is watching, and live like it is heaven on earth.
That is some good advice from areas I wouldn’t have thought of.
I’ve noticed in my own experience that there are people who are highly observant, and cling to details or are easily infected by room anxiety, and there are people who are carefree living in their own world with a solidified inner ego, who are almost entirely unaffected by the anxiety of others.
They can and do choose not to care about the aggravating details of negative exchanges in life and always carry momentum, for example a negative event pushes them through its shock into a new positive experience which they may not have found otherwise.
I am definitely of the observant type, and I tend to theorize that is due to development differences in terms of environment and experience. People who were traumatized by repetitive negative experiences will become observant and highly prone to anxiety, with a lack of a solidified ego. People who are carefree can define themselves by their positive experiences, which boosts their ego and resilience to adversity and anxiety.
Anyways, all of that advice leads to enjoying your life more, and having better experiences. Definitely something to ponder on the inner work needed for a fulfilling life.
So I assume the key to that trick is to always live young with positive interaction, with a renewable and open approach to life, being curious and engaging. And letting go of the past, attempting to approach new experiences without old baggage.
I would think it is impossible to not be bitter with age, unless you were constantly in the process of renewing yourself in development.
I also wonder if people get stuck in their ways because they are clinging to their past competencies when age catches up and they do not change with the aging.
My biggest fear with aging is social isolation, as western societies seem to have removed social elements from the elderly, who I think need it more than the younger ones who are often more busy with their time.
I would like to die the village elder, still in contact with the young and kids, than die the old man in the apartment complex who nobody knows the name of.
I can still handle social isolation while I am young, but I will probably end up that invasive old man looking for that conversation nobody around is willing to have.
But thanks to schizophrenia, I am well versed to talking to myself. Perhaps there are hidden advantages in unlikely places.
So if our future kids find a old man starting off with “Did you know, that back in the future that we had high hopes for reversing dementia…”, they will know it was me, and I’ll carry a physical red flag to adjoin all the mental ones for such conversation.
