Thanksgiving and the holiday season are upon us. It’s a good opportunity to pivot away from stressors and focus on gratefulness. Good exercise for one’s mental health.
Over the next few weeks, visits with family and friends will abound. It’s one of the best times for generations to connect. Catching up with each other’s lives, the good as well as the challenges, is important.
Change is constant throughout life. What matters is how we approach change. Two of my favorite quips on aging and life in general ring true from youth to later years.
The first: successful aging is the ability to keep reinventing oneself. Seems so apparent when we’re younger but holds true throughout our personal journeys. The second quip concerns unexpected or unwelcome change: adapt, don’t stop. Figure out your new life and go on. The two thoughts, reinvention and adaptation, interrelate.
I once heard a man at a conference telling the audience about a doctor’s appointment where he learned of his diagnosis with dementia: Alzheimer’s Disease. He said he felt like someone hit him over the head with a baseball bat. He was the same person who walked into the office, yet suddenly life changed.
And yet, here he was at a conference, personally telling his history to a large audience. I was impressed. He had adapted, finding new purpose sharing his story and encouraging others with the diagnosis to continue their journey boldly, finding new means to quality of life and living openly rather than hiding.
Most people’s thoughts about a disease like Alzheimer’s immediately go to visions of severe limitations at end of life. However, one usually has years of productive life and accommodation before incapacitation. His message was one of resilience; disease does not define us, character does. Speaking out, especially as someone with the disease, is so helpful, encouraging and inspiring to others.
Do you know someone coping with the disease and working to find new paths for quality of life? The National Council of Dementia Minds encourages those with the diagnosis to join and speak out.
Per their description, “Dementia Minds are small groups (usually 8) of people who are living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Groups meet on a regular basis, weekly or bi-weekly, as decided by the group and provide members with a community to share experiences and life enriching support and connection.” All meetings are via zoom.
The Area Agency on Aging partners with the National Council of Dementia Minds to host a local group from southwest Michigan. Call the Info-Line for Aging & Disability at 1-800-654-2810 to learn how to join. You can also visit www.areaagencyonaging.org and click on Caregivers, then Transforming Dementia to learn more.
The National Council of Dementia Minds calls all caregivers Care Partners, recognizing that the journey through the disease path is truly a partnership between those with and without the diagnosis; both working together through change. Care Partners often join the Dementia Minds call.
As we move through the holiday season, keep resources in mind and don’t shy away from meaningful discussion. Caregivers need support, relief and to know they’re not alone. To understand available resources, again go back to www.areaagencyonaging.org and explore all topics under the Caregivers link. There’s information on tips and support groups.
Note also the GUIDE Model. Region IV Area Agency on Aging is one of only a handful of entities nationwide testing a potential new Medicare benefit; paid respite for caregivers. It’s a tremendous opportunity for southwest Michigan. You can read specifics on the website.
Focusing on gratitude, offering means to help, enjoying friends and family – all good. Happy Thanksgiving.
Lynn Kellogg is former CEO of Region IV Area Agency on Aging in Southwest Michigan. Questions on age or independence services? Call the Info-Line for Aging & Disability at 800-654-2810 or visit areaagencyonaging.org. The Generations column appears each weekend in The Herald-Palladium.