Blog Post 4 As each year passes by, I can’t help but feel like time slips by way too quickly. This class is almost at its end, my time at UCSD is finishing up, and I’m scrambling to finish up all of my finals for this quarter. I never found aging to be scary, but I always felt like aging meant slipping into a bad state of mind where you’re frantically just trying to play catch up all the time rather than enjoying the current moment. This course has helped me realize that aging doesn’t need to be scary and that acceptance of aging helps you appreciate all that’s around you, even if it may be for a brief moment. I initially decided to take this class after reading Tuesdays with Morrie, which is a must-read for students, especially those in their twenties who feel lost and terrified of “adulting.” That book, along with all of the readings throughout this course, especially Leland’s book, showed me that we will one day be in their shoes, and that we can help determine what our senior lives will look like depending on our own actions. I’m constantly in awe with the wisdom that the elders have to bestow upon us and I hope that we as a generation acknowledge, respect, and absorb the wisdom. I loved the memoir assignment especially because now we have the tools and skills to memorialize the wisdom and stories of those who lived through it all. This past week, we were able to visit the Casa de Manana in La Jolla and honestly, I hope I can end up in a place like that. The place is filled with so many accomplished elders who fought through obstacles like misogyny, financial crisis, and more who are continuously looking to grow their minds and challenge themselves. Being able to talk to some of them helped me realize that career success is tied to having an abundant mindset and being open to new experiences. As we were talking, I could tell that they loved being around the youth and they definitely made me feel inspired to make an impact in the world that they entrusted us with. Tackling ageism is definitely still a major issue but I hope that through what I learned in this course, I can be more compassionate towards elders, be vocal in accessibility issues more, and to be a life-long scholar who strives to make the world a comfortable place for the elders.
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Miyu NakajimaMiyu Nakajima is a International Business major with a minor in Supply Chain. She is from San Jose, CA Archives
March 2022
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