![\"happy-old-people-cheering\"](\"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Happy-Old-People-Cheering-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\nIn a recent poll question posed to a group of elderly citizens, men and women shared the things they were never told \u2013 but may have liked to have been told \u2013 about growing old, about experiencing changes every day and struggling with a body that doesn’t always feel like their own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Here are some of their replies:<\/p>\n
George shared that no one had told him \u2013 and he probably wouldn\u2019t have believed anyone who had told him \u2013 that he would end up with severe disability<\/a>. He also never imagined that he could feel cold when it was 70\u00b0 outside.<\/p>\n \u201cI was never told that I would have problems getting out of my chair,\u201d says Jake. \u201cI had no idea that I would lose my flexibility and mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n Amanda gave her perspective on growing old as a woman: \u201cI wish I would have known that my body would start feeling different, that it would feel like it\u2019s falling apart, after menopause. I have to work really hard to keep my body going; daily exercise and healthy eating is crucial for my well-being. I know I could take estrogen to replace the estrogen I\u2019ve lost during menopause, but that\u2019s a trade-off I\u2019m not willing to make, since it significantly increases the risk of cancer \u2013 especially breast cancer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI thought that when I got older I\u2019d finally get to use my wings and fly in whatever direction I chose,\u201d said Gloria. \u201cNobody told me that I\u2019d have to spend my old age taking care of my parents, husband and grown children.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard adds, “I never thought I’d be the one sitting in a transport chair<\/a>, being pushed by my youngest son, totally dependent on others to get out of the house and go places. It’s hard to describe the feeling of your body slowly shutting down and refusing orders, leaving you more and more dependent on your loved ones and less and less capable of doing the things you want to do. Inside, I’m still a 20-something year old;\u00a0I still want to dance and run and play on the baseball team – but\u00a0on the outside, I’m an old, nearly-blind\u00a0man wearing adult diapers<\/a> and muttering under my breath. Old age isn’t bad – it has its good times, too, but\u00a0no one can say it’s easy being old.”<\/p>\n To add your thoughts on what it\u2019s really like to age<\/a>, please\u00a0contact us<\/a> or comment below \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you!<\/p>\n And remember, no matter what the future has in store for you, you\u2019ll never be as young and healthy as you are now, so take advantage and make the most of your time, collecting as many happy memories as you can to savor as you grow old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a recent poll question posed to a group of elderly citizens, men and women shared the things they were never told \u2013 but may have liked to have been told \u2013 about growing old, about experiencing changes every day and struggling with a body that doesn’t always feel like their own. Here are some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-senior-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.avacaremedical.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}