Aging Strategically – How to Create an Oasis From a Looming Midlife Crisis

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Aging-Strategically-How-to-Create-an-Oasis-From-a-Looming-Midlife-Crisis


If you’re aging and want to avoid a midlife crisis, then you must plan strategically. There are simple ways to avoid having a midlife crisis and the hazards from the aging process. Consider these tips for staying healthy in every way while you are getting older.


Emotional Preparations


The aging process can lead to emotional changes as you get empty nest syndrome or if a spouse dies. You may also retire from a job, making you feel useless. It is essential to have a plan in place for your life as your finances and daily life changes. Most people don’t plan time to go by as fast as it does. If a new life stage creeps without any emotional preparation you may feel like you are not really your age.


This can cause a cognitive dissonance reaction in many people who resent their age. To avoid depression, you must have hobbies or other activities to keep you busy each day. If you begin to have anger or sadness issues, then you should seek help from a professional counselor. This does not mean that you are broken, or crazy. However, just like you go to the doctor for your physical health a mental health professional can help you with your emotional health. This can help you process your emotions and work through your fears that come with aging.


Preparing for a New Chapter


One of the ways to make life easier for yourself and your loved ones are to prepare for your end of life by having a will in place for the dispersal of your possessions, but you must also have a living will. This document will tell your loved ones how to handle your personal affairs if you are physically or mentally unable to make decisions. Preparing this document will give you peace of mind if you suffer from an accident or an illness.


This doesn’t mean that you are dying anytime soon or that you should stop living your life to the fullest. However, you should consider calibrating your day to day life to your current needs. If you had children and your entire life was based around providing for them for decades it may come as a shock to find yourself just focusing on yourself or your spouse. 


A big house may seem more like a burden to clean and maintain than it used to be. There is no shame in scaling your life to your current needs. If stairs and steps are less of an appeal than a single-story home don’t think if of the change as a demotion, but as a promotion for your joints and lower back health. Take control of your life and your new chapter so it doesn’t take control of you.


Take Care of Your Physical Health


When you are getting older, it is time to think more about your physical health by scheduling a variety of screening tests at a cancer center. Men need to have a prostate examination and special blood test while women should have mammograms and Pap smears. Everyone should have a colonoscopy, and you can visit a dermatologist for skin mapping to keep track of unusual changes to moles. Your physician will likely give you a list of other types of tests for your heart, lungs or other parts of your body to find disease in the earliest stages.


Again, this is not to say that because you are aging you are one step away from death. However, as we age there are new routines that we have to get used to when it comes to preventative care. You may tell yourself that you are very healthy and active. That is great. You should stay that way. Ask your doctor what preventative care measures should be coming to your radar in the upcoming years. Learn to take care of your changing body so you can keep your autonomy and independence for as long as possible. This is a way that you can be around for your family longer.


Aging Diseases


With Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease, you will likely have a major concern about your mental health that may deteriorate from a dementia condition. There are ways to keep your brain active, including working on jigsaw puzzles, but remaining active with social activities or hobbies can also keep your brain healthy.


You won’t have to worry about this for a while. However, it’s always good to know the warning signs of early-onset Alzheimer’s.  Talk to your doctor if you start seeing that you are misplacing items often, have memory loss, difficulty completing tasks that are familiar, determining the proper time and place.


Every life stage comes with its own unique beauty. Remember to enjoy this new life stage and prepare for it adequately so it doesn’t surprise you once it’s here. If you are nervous about aging consider making a list of all the new possibilities you have that come with aging.

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