Celebrating "Seniors"

It is inevitable. As the years progress, we are all getting older. As one enters their 2nd half of life, understanding and confronting our feelings about this is very difficult but also very healthy. By nature, I am a very empathetic person. I have always rooted for the underdog and have had strong feelings towards helping those that might be suffering.

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As a 9 year old child, I remember going to the hospital with my dad and feeding a 100 year old woman who was a patient there. I had the best time connecting with her. She would giggle and smile as I fed her soft foods like you would a baby. For some reason, this memory has stuck with me my entire life, and had a big impact on me. This woman was 100!!!! CRAZY!!! So many people, for some reason, shy away from people as they age. I mean let’s face it - it can be a very hard and uncomfortable trying to connect with someone who is older and might be suffering from various mental and physical challenges. I TOTALLY get that. For some reason, though, I have never been that type of person. I have learned to embrace this, celebrate it, and try and create some positive experiences with this strength.

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National Senior Citizens Day was Tuesday Aug 21. Senior Citizens day was created by Franklin Roosevelt when he signed the Social Security Act in 1935. However, in 1988 Ronald Reagan declared this day as National Senior Citizens Day. To me it’s really nice to have a special day every year to celebrate our “seniors”.

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Recently some of the friends that I teach in my Silver Sneakers and Enhance Fitness classes at the YMCA (pictured above) joined me to honor and celebrate those “seniors” who are less fortunate than us. Although many people who take these classes at the YMCA have various hardships, they can at least get themselves to and from the YMCA. We visited residents at Belmont Village Senior Living Facility (West University) who are not able to live independently anymore, and we all had a very nice time socializing with them! I was amazed to learn that one woman I spoke with for a long time is 104, and turns 105 in January! WOWZA!!!

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We most likely won’t live until we are 105, but we will all be that older person one day, and I hope most of us will age gracefully! Cheers to our “seniors”. xoxo

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Just Keep Moving!

Movement is Medicine!