One research study found that when people in their late adolescence through early adulthood changed something important in their lives, say schools, jobs or significant others, this lead to real internal transformations in themselves. Not so for older adults according to the research.
I beg to differ! I believe every major change we make as we age teaches us more about ourselves and our abilities to withstand the stresses and challenges of going after something that is very important to us! Plus we have so much more incentive to change!
I wrote previously about this because I am amazed at how changing my husband, my job and my home (not to mention my hair color!) after age 50 completely changed me. How it built resourcefulness, resilience, openness to future improvements, humility, and self-respect to finally go after what mattered most to me. I realized I was completely capable of attaining a much better life for myself. How empowering! If that doesn’t change you, I don’t know what will!
I would venture a guess that the young researcher doing this study went into it biased about how aging changes us. There is so much ageist propaganda in this culture it’s overwhelming sometimes! I always think, “Just wait until they get to be 50 or 60 and they’ll see for themselves! Then they won’t be so anxious to stereotype us as old and stagnant!”
Please tell me your opinion…are you changing all the time like me?
