Age Matters: Independence and aging

Maintaining our happiness, independence, and quality of life is important to us.

Although our physical, social, and emotional obstacles can be in the way, our drive to maintain independent remains fiercely strong. Some say that our fear of losing independence is actually stronger than our fear of dying.

If all of this is true, then what happens when, for example, Alberta Transportation decides they won’t be renewing our drivers’ licence and we lose our ability to drive ourselves from place to place?

The simple answer is, we take public transportation or have a friend or family member drive us. But, life as we choose it is not always that simple. Unfortunately, we are far too complex as human beings to take the less complicated route.

Setbacks like these can get out of hand when we resist and focus too intently on what is going wrong in our lives.

We know what we don’t want to lose independence; and we know what we want to be free.

The ability to transport oneself from one place to another is sometimes how we practice that freedom. When we are no longer able to drive, we experience a setback of sorts. How we navigate this circumstance will determine how smooth the process goes.

Physically, our eyesight diminishes and it becomes more difficult to see as daylight wanes. Reduced vision affects us in other areas as we can no longer read ‘best before’ dates on food items, directions for use on chemicals, or precautions associated with medications.

While driving, we’re less able to respond quickly when someone unexpectedly moves in our path and we suddenly need to apply our brakes.

Socially, we are affected as well. And gradually, somewhere along the line we decide it is easier to give up than to summon the energy needed to go to that barbecue, or meet a friend for coffee, or attend that volunteer commitment.