I know, some of us here are afraid of getting older, along with dying. Gerascophobia is tied to Thanatophobia in many ways.
The article addresses more specific ways about how to age and stay positive, as well as the problems of ageism. I don’t personally fear aging, but I do fear losing my ability to be independent. I fear the decay of my body. The thought of living in a retirement home one day is fraught with unknowns We all hear terrible stories about what our most vulnerable are subjected to.
As with death anxiety, I think a part of how to work on this, is to talk about it more.
Talk about aging.
Talk about what comes with it.
Despite having three grandparents die, I don’t hear much about getting older or what happens.
My dad complains that he is “getting too old”, and I’ve tried to ask what that’s like, what that means, but he struggles to find the words. I read about it, to make it less of an unknown.
And I share that here, at times, as with this article.
These were the important suggestions from the article:
Stay physically active by doing at least 30 minutes of movement or exercise every day.
Exercise your brain by engaging in mentally challenging activities, and never stop learning new things.
Adopt an overall healthy lifestyle by eating healthfully, getting enough sleep, managing weight, and not drinking in excess or smoking.
Stay connected to other people by nurturing relationships with your spouse or partner, family, friends, neighbors, and others in your community, including young people.
Create positive emotions for yourself by practicing positive emotion exercises and learning to feel good about your age.
Don’t sweat the small stuff; accept what you cannot do, and ask for help when needed.
Set goals for yourself and take control of the steps needed to achieve them.
Minimize life stress; practice healthy coping techniques, and learn to relax and unwind.
Have regular medical check-ups, take advantage of health screenings, and engage in healthy preventive behaviors.
A lot of the things for dealing with anxiety and fear, overlap. I’ve suggested many if not all of these things on this blog, and I think it’s important to note the overlap. It means, in general, to help with many fears and anxieties, one of the starting points is to take care of yourself holistically -- exercise, eat well, interact socially with loved ones, meditate -- these show up time and time again -- and then the specifics come into play.
Like thinking about aging.
Getting older idols.
Yet the first steps always seem to be, take care of yourself “in general”, before confronting the problems.