You know over the last six years I’ve made lots of friends around fifty to seventy years of age. Going to Zumba and meeting people of all ages has brought me to this article. I now take the learnings and try and use the mindset when it comes to my parents who are pensioners.
My ex-landlords who were close to the age of seventy who rented their little apartment for the first time to me told me that their kids told them “You mustn’t do this, that and the other. Don’t trust too much etc,” but in the end, we found a good person. When people get old their loved ones feel more fear, see their vulnerability and worry out of concern and love and the same goes for when you were a child; your parents worry about you out of love and concern. Today my ex landlords are fearless and go travelling everywhere. I remember when I used to go and visit them. I used to see the pictures of people they knew and once I asked a question. She pointed out each one i.e. who she went to school with, who is sick at old age and who’s no longer alive.
I said, “Wow, that’s so sad that everyone is slowly disappearing. You guys should just do as much as possible.”
Listen to yourself and listen to your body
At Zumba, I’ve learnt this about myself and the lovely old ladies I used to meet in the morning classes. It’s incredible, seriously, I reckon the old ladies had more fun than me. They kept the morning class alive and when I came in, I often found them in a circle. Even the young ones were drawn to them. I mean they attended the class which the guy from Sierra Leone taught without fail and the guy from Sierra Leone was truly hard to keep up with.
There were times when I used to come from work tired and I’d still go to Zumba. Some days I’d have loads of energy and some days I could feel that I couldn’t give it my all. People are always saying push yourself when it comes to exercising but I don’t believe pushing yourself when you feel tired already is the way to go. Why? When I look at these old women, they do what they can and enjoy it. Energy doesn’t stay, it goes. Listening to what your body needs at the moment is important and this is where intuition plays a big role especially in old age. Your body is frail and doing some exercise is better than nothing. You know your limits and feel more responsible for yourself. You don’t want to finish off your joints before their time and your body is telling you today, I can’t go all the way and tomorrow is another day.
Routine can be a killer of many things and in the United Kingdom and Switzerland I’ve noticed this a lot. People want to be in control that the minute things start going wrong it’s disruptive but then again who wants disruption right? Don’t force yourself to go with the routine because life is what is meant to happen.
Spontaneity and Intuition
Being spontaneous can save your life so don’t ignore your intuition. Why? Somewhere I’ve read this article or seen a story of it. A woman was heading off somewhere and something told her to go and check the bicycle at the back. She was thinking, “Ah! I’m sure it’s okay.” She followed her intuition and went to check the bicycle at the back of the house. As soon as she got to the bicycle, she saw a fire and right next to the fire was a large gas bottle. Lucky the fire wasn’t so big but if left longer there would have been an explosion. Something as small as locking the door comes to mind on a certain day more than others, or not pushing yourself, or having a strong gut feeling around doing something or not doing something then go with it. Things are not always in your control and it’s hard to make a difference between being your own worst energy, sorry, I mean enemy and having a strong gut feeling.
However, if people are forcing you to do something too much and you don’t want to do it. That is telling you something. Go with your gut instinct (intuition).
When you get old you have more fear especially if you’ve had a few encounters to the hospital. It’s natural that the older you get the more fear you have. Sometimes that needs to be faced head-on so that you can live the wonderful experiences that are waiting for you. You have no idea how long you will live till so make each day count.
T. Dench Patel
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by either purchasing one of my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
The audiobook for The South African: True Colours is available on iTunes, Apple and Audible. The South African: Roamer and Light will be released soon.
Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to reevaluate them.
