In this week’s class, Dr. Lewis and Dr. Bussell allowed us to engage in a reflective activity of thinking about the life we would have when we were 80 years old. This type of thinking was something new to me since I usually think of the future only 5 years in advance at most and often with a goal to reach in mind, such as how to get into college or how to get into graduate/medical school. Thinking about the life I would live as an older person was a more difficult task than I thought! It required me to go through my life in each decade and see how my “hypothetical” accomplishments and obstacles would cumulatively affect my life at 80 years old, a concept I connected to the life course perspective. After writing out my thoughts about my future life, I realized that an older person’s life is affected by commonly overlooked details of the environment such as wide sidewalks, even pavement, access to transportation, proximity of grocery stores, etc. After discussing our hypothetical 80 year old lives, Dr. Bussell pointed out that a common theme was a change of pace in lifestyle. With the demographic changes happening, structures in society should also adapt to this change of pace in order to promote healthy aging individuals in society of all ages. This was just one activity in this class and it provoked much thought and brought more insight into the aging process. I love how interactive this class is especially within the virtual learning environment so I am super excited to see what the rest of the quarter has in store for us.
2 Comments
Leonardo Aviles
3/14/2021 12:33:08 am
Hello Abigail - I enjoyed the exercise of imaging ourselves at 80 years old as well. It was definitely something I've never done before so it was a bit of a struggle at the same time it seemed like I already knew what I wanted my life to be like. As Professor Bussell expressed, when we imagine older people's lives, we imagine a calm, peaceful pace - in contrast with our current fast-paced state of mind we are living in, in our youth. But of course, we have become products of our society as it is face-paced, advancing, and constantly energized. But this becomes an issue when, just like you said, environments fail to reflect a slower pace, one that needs to be catered to older generations and their own needs and spaces.
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Jenny Kim
3/20/2021 10:17:59 pm
Hey Abigail!
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Abigail ZaratanAbigail is a Human Biology major from Chula Vista, CA. A fun fact about Abigail is that at one point, she could play 3 instruments -- flute, piano, and violin. Archives
May 2021
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