getting older Archives - My New Old Self

Happiness as you age – no denial

Apr

20

2018

The older we get, the more we are told to embrace our age. To take pride in the decades we’re notching up. Yet most of us tend to ignore these exhortations to be loud and proud about getting older. On the contrary, we continue to mark birthday milestones in denial mode. I fear that if ...

So… that’s how they start sentences these days

Nov

16

2017

I have recently noticed more and more people starting sentences with the word “So”. I have also noticed that most of those who like to launch their sentences with So are younger than me. I have no principled objection to the use of So to start a sentence. In fact, there are many instances in ...

Old and feeling it? Blame TV

Sep

22

2017

If you’re feeling your age, guess where you can put the blame? On TV. This is the finding of two new scientific studies. And you know how much My New Old Self relies on those two words “studies show”. TV + old people = bad news These studies show that television has a negative impact ...

Piano on my Mind 3

Sep

8

2017

I have recently taken up the piano again after a gap of nearly five decades. I was taught to read music at the same age that I learned to read English. At the age of five I started weekly lessons with a piano teacher who happened to live across the street. Even when we moved ...

Downsize and Declutter 2

Aug

24

2017

The older I get, the more I hear these D-words. Downsize and declutter are what you need to do when clearing out rooms after kids leave home. Or in packing up an entire house before moving to smaller retirement quarters. New industries have emerged to assist those who aim to downsize and declutter. There are ...

Elders + Tech = Laughs

Jun

1

2017

Your intrepid correspondent on the Elder Watch beat considers it a key duty to keep you up to date where technology is concerned. Not about the latest technological developments. Forget that, I battle to keep up with the ever-changing tech world like most of us whose lives have straddled the Digital Divide. Besides, youthful tech ...

No Deathbed for author Karel Schoeman 1

May

5

2017

I would have thought that an author who wrote movingly of deathbed reflections would embrace such an eventual life review for himself. Yet acclaimed South African writer Karel Schoeman chose to end his own life at the age of 77, rather than carry on living, writing and reflecting. Afrikaans writer Karel Schoeman commits suicide President ...

Y2K + Millennials 1

Dec

29

2016

The Not-so-new Millennium As 2016 nears its end, I’ve been thinking back to that famous New Year’s Eve when we welcomed the 21st century – and all the fearmongering leading up to it. You remember Y2K – which turned out to be Apocalypse Not. You remember the widespread hoarding of canned food and candles in response to dire ...

Mythbusting – not a bad thing 1

Sep

1

2016

Mythbusting originally came from the name of a TV science show but now It’s a Thing, and not a bad one. In the past 20 years medicine has adopted an evidence-based approach to decision-making. This requires interrogating whether there is irrefutable proof for our beliefs – and busting the myths. This seems a good approach to ...

Live longer – and better!

Jun

24

2016

When I saw this cartoon it depressed me. “These are them?” All this effort to stay young – and all it gets us is more years of being old? Wait a minute. Let’s refill that half-glass of water, abandoning such pessimistic measurement of its emptiness. Readers of this column will know how fond My New Old Self ...