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Aging

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Aging

Isn’t ironic how most people enjoy having birthdays coming up but they don’t not like the idea of getting old. Birthdays and getting old should always be a celebration of life. However, looking through the nearsighted eyes of a youth oriented society, many people tend to see birthdays past the age 29 as a sign for loss, including my self. My sister turned 29 very recently, and she has always enjoyed celebrating her birthdays, but definitely not this year around, she did not want to celebrate it at all. And her exact word was “I can’t believe I will be 30 next year”. She made me not to look forward to that age.

What make us so afraid of getting old? Is it really the fear of getting wrinkles, or is it because we associate aging with getting closer to the grave?
Sigmund Freud has a "death wish" theory. He believed that the natural state of objects is to be inanimate and that life is an aberration. For this reason, he concluded, every animate object longs to return to its inanimate state. That state is death. According to Sigmund Freud, there exist two conflicting forces in a being. Part of it wants to die and part of it wants to live. This causes tension. I know most human being don’t wish to die. And most of us are afraid of getting old because deep down we are afraid of getting close to die. Now, I know that most individuals have no conscious wish to die.

Being optimistic is about hoping for the best and seeking to demonstrate it in life. Nothing wrong with that, I think growing older does truly offer challenges and I also think it does offer great rewards. The “nun study” plays a great role in dismissing negative stereotypes of aging. If we are free of disease when we get old it has very little effect on the physical and psychological functioning. And to make that happen, we have to change our life style in a positive way, which is to exercise, eat balanced diet, get adequate amount of sleep and last but not least to have a positive attitude throughout our life.

References
Death instinct, Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939
Sigelman , Carol K ; Rider, E. A, 2011. Life-Span Human Development(7e) . Health and Physical Development . pp. 166-169

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