The debriefing from Casa De Mañana this week with the class helped me to further process some of my other initial thoughts involving a future career working with seniors. The origin of my thoughts involving working with those who are aging is somewhat analogous to my concerns about working as a therapist or a social worker. I would love to be able to directly help others in a relationship as close as therapist and patient. However, I am perfectly aware of how impressionable I am. My ability to not allow others’ struggles personally affect my own life is not fully developed. In a way, I can be debilitated by my instinct to help people and try to fix things. I’m trying to learn how to prioritize myself more because it is my personality to find reasons to live my life for other people instead of solely for myself.
In terms of having a career with helping people, I think therapy and social work may be too intense. However, in working with seniors, the concerns are somewhat different. I believe the level of relationships that would develop would be manageable. Unfortunately, a morbid fact of life involves death. I worry for myself that I would be personally affected by inevitable deaths in the people I would be working closely with. On the other hand, I think it would be a positive thing for my personality to become more comfortable and less resistant to the concept of death. Fear of death is common in humans, but it is important to acknowledge that it is unavoidable and that worrying about it while we are alive is simply a waste. It is also a selfish human mistake to allow deaths of others to control so many of our fears. We should be more grateful to be able to spend time with people for as long as we do. Humans live exceptional amounts of time in our current society. To carry angry, sad, and negative feelings about deaths of elders is selfish because we want the person in our lives to have more experiences and more time; but the fact of the matter is we should be much more appreciative of everything people have already given us. Of course I want to have as much time with my parents as possible, but I am simply grateful that I have been able to spend as much time with them as I have. Not everyone has the same blessings as I do. I believe working with an aging population could present a humbling opportunity that will allow me to have a more sound mind involving my fears of the world.
On a less heavy note, the book presentation went very well! I was very pleased with the discussion that my group was able to lead. My contribution was the question about the culture of aging in the book aligning with the culture of aging in real life. Surprisingly enough, my peers shared similar experiences involving having fears of aging instilled at a young age. We are sold skin products and preventive care that are supposed to stop wrinkles and other “unattractive” symptoms of aging. I feel as if we are told that the perils of aging are unhealthy when in reality, these symptoms are natural. Everyone seemed engaged and as if they enjoyed the book as well.
I absolutely loved the oral history project presentations! Everyone’s projects were so sweet and heartfelt. No matter the level of detail, everyone’s relationship development was clearly illustrated in their projects. I loved when people reflected and said they learned a lot about their EP. I understand that this was one of the main goals of the assignment, but that doesn’t detract from the beauty of the process. I’m very excited to present my own in the coming weeks. As the deadline is approaching, my dad is getting more and more excited. I am waiting on the physical copies of the photos that he mailed me that go with his memories. After seeing the more artistic aspects of some people’s projects, I am very inspired to do something creative with my own.
In terms of having a career with helping people, I think therapy and social work may be too intense. However, in working with seniors, the concerns are somewhat different. I believe the level of relationships that would develop would be manageable. Unfortunately, a morbid fact of life involves death. I worry for myself that I would be personally affected by inevitable deaths in the people I would be working closely with. On the other hand, I think it would be a positive thing for my personality to become more comfortable and less resistant to the concept of death. Fear of death is common in humans, but it is important to acknowledge that it is unavoidable and that worrying about it while we are alive is simply a waste. It is also a selfish human mistake to allow deaths of others to control so many of our fears. We should be more grateful to be able to spend time with people for as long as we do. Humans live exceptional amounts of time in our current society. To carry angry, sad, and negative feelings about deaths of elders is selfish because we want the person in our lives to have more experiences and more time; but the fact of the matter is we should be much more appreciative of everything people have already given us. Of course I want to have as much time with my parents as possible, but I am simply grateful that I have been able to spend as much time with them as I have. Not everyone has the same blessings as I do. I believe working with an aging population could present a humbling opportunity that will allow me to have a more sound mind involving my fears of the world.
On a less heavy note, the book presentation went very well! I was very pleased with the discussion that my group was able to lead. My contribution was the question about the culture of aging in the book aligning with the culture of aging in real life. Surprisingly enough, my peers shared similar experiences involving having fears of aging instilled at a young age. We are sold skin products and preventive care that are supposed to stop wrinkles and other “unattractive” symptoms of aging. I feel as if we are told that the perils of aging are unhealthy when in reality, these symptoms are natural. Everyone seemed engaged and as if they enjoyed the book as well.
I absolutely loved the oral history project presentations! Everyone’s projects were so sweet and heartfelt. No matter the level of detail, everyone’s relationship development was clearly illustrated in their projects. I loved when people reflected and said they learned a lot about their EP. I understand that this was one of the main goals of the assignment, but that doesn’t detract from the beauty of the process. I’m very excited to present my own in the coming weeks. As the deadline is approaching, my dad is getting more and more excited. I am waiting on the physical copies of the photos that he mailed me that go with his memories. After seeing the more artistic aspects of some people’s projects, I am very inspired to do something creative with my own.