It is nice to be able to take a breather from college and other commitments to meet up once a week with the rest of the class to discuss how we are doing and update each other on our lives. Hearing about what everyone was stressed or worried about made me realize that we are all dealing with similar issues and that we are not alone. Many of us were afraid of what life would be like after college, upcoming exams, and job searching. Even though we were all stressed, a classmate made a good insight about how we should just not focus too much on the future because life has its own path sometimes that we cannot predict and the best we can do is to be willing to adapt to whatever happens. After we caught up with one another, half of the class presented on half of the book we are reading called Happiness is a Choice You Make. Some of the key points that I got out of the presentation was that happiness is what you make of it. I noticed that all of the seniors focused their attention on cultivating hobbies and strengthening relationships with people that they care about. They were also less stressed and afraid of death as they got older. This reminded me of my grandmother who spends most of her time baking yummy chinese desserts and zong zi on special holidays and tending to her garden. The discussion we had in class changed my mind about aging.
For this week’s learning engage group, we went to Casa de Manana to meet with the seniors there to get to know them. Before we started the LEGs, we all recapped with our healthy aging project members to see what else we need to do. The meeting was productive and we were able to finalize a few things to make sure that the seniors at the West Center have the opportunity to get a free self-care service we will provide. I am very excited to jumpstart this project and would like to see how the event turns out! For our LEG at Casa, there were two of the same seniors that showed up the first time we visited Casa. This time they brought some few documents, pictures, and books to share with us. We divided ourselves into two big groups and chatted with them. I was in the group with the female senior that travelled all over the world and has been to almost all states besides one. We asked her about her travels and how she was able to travel while taking care of 9 kids. She told us how she never expected her life to turn out the way it did, but she was happy to be able to experience so much and get a more worldly view and understanding of different cultures. It seems like her life was not always this luxurious because when she was raising 9 children, she was living paycheck to paycheck. From all the stories she told us and from the little snippet that I know about her life, it seems like she was always optimistic, happy, and open to new things. It seemed like no matter what stress she experienced, she tackled them with a happy, positive mindset. I do think that this may be one reason why some people may live longer than others because stress and negative thoughts are a deadly killer. I am glad that we were able to interact with the seniors on a deeper level this time around.
Today is our first learning exchange group at the Bayside center. After the seniors were done with Zumba, we split ourselves into groups of four to chat with a senior. My group and I talked to Remy (?). She is an adorable little senior and it was nice how warm and welcoming she was. She told us about her memories and life at 20. We learned of her nursing career journey and how she remembers studying really hard to pass her exams in nursing school in the Philippines. She gave many insightful comments about life and emphasized the importance of family and education that opened many opportunities for her to care for patients in the Philippines and later in the United States. She reminded me of my grandma because they both always talk about how important education is. Remy also told us of her travelling experiences, and it seemed like she is still living the life of a party because she always tries to be active and involved with Bayside activities. While she was describing and recounting her memories in Asia, Europe, and Africa, she gave us life lessons about doing what you love but also focusing on yourself and have fun at the same time. She said to go into a career that you are passionate about and we ended our conversation by talking a bit more about our dreams and aspirations. I feel like this intergenerational LEG made me change my perspective of seniors in general. Every one of the senior at Bayside seemed lively and seemed like they had many life experiences that they wanted to share. Even though the meeting was short, I think it was still great to be able to interact with the seniors more one-on-one this quarter.
It was nice to be back in the classroom and hear what everyone has been up to during spring break. I am excited for the healthy aging projects and cannot wait to see how all of these projects turn out. I am a part of the Project LCS (Living, Creating, and Striving) where we plan on creating a day of personal self care and love by providing free haircutting, makeup, and massage therapy for the seniors at the West Center. We learned in class and through our readings last quarter that society has made aging into a disease and beauty industries have created anti-aging products. As a result, we want to challenge these beauty standards and encourage natural beauty and instill confidence through free personal care services. I think this is a great way to not only interact with the seniors by getting to know them, but also we are helping to promote natural beauty within each and every one of the seniors we care for. We want to break down beauty standards and show that no matter what age you are, you are still beautiful. At the end of the mini makeover, we plan on holding a photobooth/ runway for the seniors to showcase their inner and outer beauty. Through this project, we hope to provide a safe space for the seniors to feel good about themselves and also have a great time. My team and I have been very productive and planned out a detailed timeline and event planning for the next few weeks leading up to our event and hope that this project will be a success!
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Amena NgWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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