To become a Life Course Scholar Alum as soon as I submit this last blog post, feels bittersweet, as to be expected. Bitter because we were robbed of our second quarter experiencing the aging process and the in/equitable resources folks have in different areas in person. Bitter because this class was so educational and my favorite course for the past six months and now its ending. Yet sweet because I was able to meet all the lovely individuals in this cohort, make connections and build a more solidified picture of what I’d like to do careerwise, enhance my relationships with the older adults in my life, be educated on ageism and learn so much in real life and from readings/current events. I feel so happy and lucky to have gotten this experience, this class never felt like painful work or a drag, it was always a warm space to be a part of. It never felt boring or lame, it was so exciting to get off campus and meet new people and that was “class.” I feel like I’m at a loss of words to explicitly describe the feeling of not fully comprehending that this is it, this is over, I won’t get to see Dr. Bussell or Dr. Lewis or my classmates every Wednesday anymore. But the other part of me feels so happy to have found new friends that care about old people as much as I do and who I’ll still speak to even after this all ends, as well as professors I hope I can reach out to be part of mine or their research. I can’t really explain how much I’ve learned in this two-parter course and yes I’m basically reiterating the same sentence in different ways, but I can’t even remember who I was before this year started. It’s been a wild ride since January, and here I am, its June, its my birth month, I’m turning 20, I’m going to enter this new decade in my life and I have the “I hated my twenties” phrase echoing in the back of my head by all the older folks I heard say that, and all I can think about is: If I want to be happy at 80, I have to play like chess, I have to work backwards and do what makes me happy now. And I think that’s a major takeaway that I have realized: happiness is a choice. And I choose to be happy to be in the present, happy to be able to learn so much and so hands-on, happy to age, and happy to teach others why ‘old’ isn’t a bad word. In the end, all I can say is thank-you. Thank you to my professors who made this class exist and support us fully throughout and beyond the classroom. Thank you to my peers for being curious. Thank you to anyone reading this. Thank you for listening to me like older folks want to be listened to. I literally look forward to living in Sardinia or any other Blue Zone, eating a plant-based diet and living past 100 now and I’m not sure 2019 Sophia would’ve said the same. Goodbye forever Life Course Scholars 2020, yes I’m crying :( (I learned saying 'goodbye forever' is good for closure.)
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June 2020
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