Aging Denial
Why can’t AGING get a MAJORITY Vote?
In the last few years we’ve seen so much time and media go into making the legalization of Marijuana come to fruition by a group that has been bonded together with a common cause for decades, and made a final push to get it through and passed as a law in two states in the last two years.
By itself, the social accomplishment is pretty impressive on their part. It’s a testament to their persistence and passion for the topic.
Why can’t we get that type of coordinated force and hand-holding alliance to amplify our professional advocacy voice to make PLANNING for AGING “THE NORM”!
Why can’t we make AGING an acceptable and open topic in our amazingly developed and advanced society? It’s painfully frustrating!!
Do you know what THEY have, that WE don’t? They have an HONEST ACCEPTANCE about who they are and what they participate in. Most marijuana users that are regular participants in the activity as a part of their daily activities of life will OPENLY ADMIT that they use the drug. They have a culture, a community, and they all tend to be open and accepting people.
WE DON’T HAVE THAT in regards to AGING.
We, as a nation, are NOT ACCEPTING of something that is completely normal. It’s called GETTING OLDER. We are all participating in that activity – every day, week, month, year, decade… You know it. I know it. And yet, somehow, we are NOT HONEST with ourselves (just look at the media & advertising you see) about the fact that WE ALL AGE. We are not realistic about what that looks like, feels like, sounds, smells, and tastes like.
We need to GET REAL, get a grip, wrap our heads around THE TRUTH.
We are TOTALLY and COMPLETELY IN DENIAL about AGING.
What I am suggesting is that we learn about HONEST ACCEPTANCE of who we are, where we are going, and what our future looks like… so we can PLAN FOR IT!!!
Until we do THAT, we will continue to fail as a society to prepare for our last 1/3 of life (and a new 30 years of longevity we’ve created). We will continue to act as professionals, in our own blind silos, fighting this uphill battle to educate a nation on our topic of expertise – be it health, nutrition, aging-in-place, technology, or whatever – related to aging. Denial has never accomplished anything before, so I don’t know why we, as a nation and society, seem to think it would this time… It won’t.
It’s time for the PUBLIC to ACCEPT Aging. We AGE. Deal with it!
It’s time for the PROFESSIONALS to UNITE (across industries) behind the
Teaching of PLANNING for Aging vs. allowing the DENIAL to continue.