By Sheila Kun RN, BA, BSN, MS

How many of us seniors would sign up for a training course on the topic of “How to age gracefully?”. I am not sure if there is such a course, however the need to get proper training on what to do with the years creeping up on us is imminent and urgently needed. A hot topic that retirees want to know about is how to withdraw the pension or access to SSI. And in the United States, one of these learning needs is how to access Medi-Care. Are we emotionally prepared for our “golden years”? The obvious answer is NO. 

The concern for seniors and how they manage their lives was vividly depicted by one of the leading authors in China. His name is Daxin Zhou, a famous author who won a prestigious award for his publication focusing on seniors. Though his larger publication remains inaccessible, my plan is to translate his abstract for you readers. I hope you would enjoy reading the key points that he wanted to convey and that you would reflect on your own experience.

Mr. Zhou’s title for this book is literally translated into “The day is getting dark slowly”. He was very keen on the surging population of people over 60 and above. There is a paucity of publications on how the society is managing the growth and the service needs of this aging population. Moreover, he feels that the seniors are not well prepared for this phase of their lives.

Mr. Zhou begins by saying that many seniors say they know everything. After all, their age seems to position them in a vintage point; they expect that experience in life would give them a heads up. Mr. Zhou begs to differ. He says the majority of the seniors do not prepare themselves well to walk through these last few miles of their life. From age 60 and pacing towards the dawn of the day, with darkness shrouding over many events and situations, he warns of many pending situations or “scenes” as he calls them. Mr. Zhou implores that these scenes need to be attended to before they arrive. Once you are shown that these scenes could happen, then you would not be taken by surprise.

I am launching a bold attempt to translate this publication so that we seniors would benefit from his keen observation on the developmental milestones that we have to go through. 

So stay tuned for next week.

Your homework from the Care Ministry this week: explore what are the milestones that seniors might have to go through?

Love to hear from you: kunlouis@gmail.com