Depression-Free Aging

If 70 is the normal life span (based on Scripture) and you're 60, time is slipping by quickly. If 70 is to be squeezed into a 24-hour-day, it would be around 9:00 p.m. in your life. Time on earth is limited even if you can extend it to some more years.

Depression is common among the aged. The clock is ticking. Once, I saw a woman in her 80s, full of vigor, with lots of makeup, teen-fit dress, and partying around since she can still walk reasonably well. When asked about how she feels, she said she's depressed!

At age 52, writer Robert Browning wrote that he accepted that he had already exceeded the life expectancy of his era. He never knew that His Creator would be gifting him with 27 more remaining years!  He painted his process of aging in this way:

"Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made."

And then, Browning counseled that aging is a time to "take and use your work, amend what flaws may lurk, look not down but up!"

The ability to adapt. The ability to learn and accept one's limitations. Faith. Self care. These are determinants of what professional literature of geriatrics call "successful aging."