Breaking The Chains of Ageism
Reshaping Perspectives
I’ve never been one to focus on my age because I feel how I feel no matter what that number may indicate. Sometimes I felt worn and tired in my thirties, other times I felt twenty-five again even though my age (in numbers) indicated otherwise.
Reaching 100 is the only time we should focus on the number. Making it that far is momentous. Remember Wilber Scott on NBC and the Smuckers 100 year old birthday announcements? My great-grandmother, Petra Ness Borg made it on that show when her day came. She lived to be 103, a stalwart Norwegian through and through. I feel confident I’ll be around for a while.
This attitude set me up for my incensed reaction when my eye doctor told me at age 40 that I may need “readers” soon. How dare he put me in the “old eyes” category. This was blatant manipulation. Yes, there are physiological changes that take place as we mature, and it may be important to prepare for those changes. But once you put those kinds of thoughts in someone’s head and repeatedly emphasize them, we all go down the “old age” hole of no return.
Right?
I changed my optometrist after that incident. My eyes have changed little since then although I did have cataract surgery at an early age which was/is a hereditary anomaly. But I still don’t need glasses…
