I have often heard the saying "the only constant in life is change," this saying pretty much applies to everything in life; some examples of such are how we look for information on the internet as opposed to encyclopedias, our political leaders change with every election and the notion of staying at the same job for your entire career is generally looked at as outdated.
More specifically how does the idea of constant change apply to us; well we get older every year, our friends from childhood are probably not always your friends in adulthood and more than likely you have had more than one job or career in your life.
As an Older Adult specialist I work with individuals who have dealt with many changes in their lives but are still trying to maintain a high quality of living.
One saying that I use with the people in my programs is "don't add anything in your life to make it easier and don't take anything out of your life to make it easier.
" What does this mean? Well to explain the first part of my saying it means that we shouldn't add things in our lives to make it easier because in doing so it can make us dependent on the things we added; some examples of this are canes, walkers, wheelchairs, toilet bars and stair lifts when we don't need them.
I want to stress to everyone that I'm not saying for example don't use a walker or wheelchair or any of the devices mentioned, just make sure it is for safety reasons not just because you want things to be easier.
In regards to toilet bars, ideally people should be able to get on and off the toilet (which is squatting) by themselves without any assistance but some people have installed them without fully needing them and over a period of time became dependent; if you have ever watched dogs squat to use the bathroom you know just like humans this is a natural movement that all people should be able to do.
Downsizing or "Rightsizing" are phrases that we hear often when it comes to whether peoples living arrangements are appropriate for their lifestyle.
When I say "don't take anything out of your life to make it easier," for example people have used downsizing or "rightsizing" as reasons to get rid of walking stairs.
I am not suggesting for safety reasons not to add a chair lift or stay in a house that is too big for one or two people but if you can continue to walk the stairs in your house do so.
One of the biggest factors in maintaining balance and coordination is being physically strong and walking stairs aids in strengthening leg muscles.
If you are living an active lifestyle my only encouragement is keep doing what you are doing because even though life changes we can do things to keep our lives as constant as ever.