Phase Dance

Guest Opinion

How do you feel about the fact that you are getting older and that you are aging by the minute?

Your answer likely depends on several things, especially your current chronological age. For example, if you are an adolescent, you may be impatient and quite eager to speed up the process and enjoy some of the benefits of adulthood, such as increased autonomy and societal privileges.

On the other hand, if you are in your seventies, you will likely have the opposite feeling about getting older. Knowing that the end of your life is closer, you probably are eager to do anything you can to slow your descent into the airport. Other factors that influence the aging process and how we experience it include our physiologic, psychological, and spiritual well-being.

We do know several things about aging. For example, the average lifespan has increased dramatically over the years. A child born in 1900 had an expected lifespan of 32 years. By 2019, the expected lifespan had increased to 79 years of age. However, by 2021 the life expectancy had actually gone backward to 76 years. There have been several explanations for this decrease among certain population groups, including poverty, access to healthcare, and death from the opioid crisis.

Now people can expect to live until their sixties and beyond unless their lives are shortened by tragic circumstances. Our population has a sizable and growing proportion of older people. By 2030, one in six people in the U.S. will be over 60.

This, combined with a continued decline in birth rate, will present significant socioeconomic challenges. Some futurists have projected that immigrants will be sought after, even paid to immigrate, rather than prohibited from entering our country.

What can you expect as you age? Let’s imagine that you have successfully navigated through your younger years. You survived the angst of adolescence and any mid-life crises. Now, as you turn fifty-five and approach retirement, what happens next? There are so many variables that make it impossible to predict what will happen. However, there are generalizations that one can use as guideposts.

Some authors have attempted to break down aging in our mid to later years into several phases, or stages. How you experience these stages and opportunities will depend on several factors. Your health will be one of the most important things. Financial resources and connections with others will also come into play. Whether or not you have worked on those three things will likely influence your overall enjoyment with the aging process.

The first stage of the transition from mid to late life typically occurs around 55-65 years of age when many people are either retiring or contemplating doing so. Retirement “experts” refer to this as the “go-go” stage. If your health is still good and your body willing, there is often a burst of energy and an interest in adventure. During this phase you can do things that you put off because of work or family commitments.

Taking a trip might be important, as well as accomplishing other things on your “bucket list.” Making such a list is a realization, conscious or otherwise, that our time will run out, and that if we want to make sure we do something that requires physical stamina, we need to do it now.

The second phase in the aging transition typically begins when you approach your mid-seventies. The “go-go” energy and thirst for activity gradually dissipates in this second phase which is referred to as “slow-go.” These changes most often come about due to increasing limitations in your health.

During this phase, more of the focus is on taking care of your health. When you get together with friends, you will likely find yourself conducting what I call an “organ recital,” where each person gives the latest updates on their health problems as well as feelings about their healthcare providers.

As we age into this second phase it becomes more and more difficult to deny that we are, in fact, “old.” Remember when there were certain benefits of aging that we looked forward to, such as claiming Social Security and senior discounts? Now being old is much less fun and can lead to depression and loneliness.

The third stage of aging in the later years is called “no-go.” During this phase, which typically begins in your early eighties, there are often increasing concerns and limitations caused by your declining health. Mobility and the ability to live independently become major considerations and often lead to decisions to either live with family or in an assisted living situation.

Danish physicist Niels Bohr once stated something to the effect of, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” No one can accurately predict what will happen to you as you age. I offer the above trend lines to aid you in your journey as you contemplate your life. Although parts of your journey will be difficult, I do hope you will have things that you can cherish.

Greg Holmes lives and writes in Traverse City.

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