We all know that we go through various stages in life, but in your twilight years, situations can become unbearable.
This is the period when you ask yourself where did you go wrong. I find myself recently asking myself if I had done anything wrong along life’s way and what more I had to do to endure the rigours at this stage, especially considering the various issues that confront me, health-wise and otherwise, today.
I have difficulty sleeping and although there’s food in the house, enjoying my choice diet seems challenging. My weight is going downhill and I concluded I need a medical check-up for a professional opinion, which also comes at a cost. So, I did the usual tests and got a medical assessment and was told I need to rest, but also, to help myself stay alive, I should go walking, force myself to eat and abstain from some of my choice social habits, etc.
So, that process has started, but to compound my issues, my vehicle broke down and the necessary parts are not available locally.
I have no immediate friends to lean on, no family to ask for assistance and loneliness seems to be one’s only friend. Every now and then you would receive a friendly call, not offering help or assistance, but to tell me I was being missed in the usual social places.
Nobody thinks of passing by, bringing you a fruit, a bottle of coconut water, a handshake or sharing a joke. All care, but only from a distance — and the trauma and drama become yours to sort out alone.
This is what it comes to after you have spent the last 60 years being there for your family, being on the job to ensure what your working life was worthwhile at that stage. The system has closed its doors with no source of finance, even your insurance providers seem to be looking for a reason to terminate your policy, so one has to be extra careful not to become a liability after a lifetime of payment.
You now live on hope and prayers, with only memories of your past and your thoughts of living through that period, to keep you alive, as everybody seems to have drifted away, friends and family becoming a fleeting memory.
Sometimes, you even think of wishing it should end now, as if kicking the bucket is an only option…
It’s so sad that life takes its toll and everything else remains a figment of your imagination.
Regardless if you have savings or reasonable assets, the loneliness engulfs you and not even a cheerful though is left to keep you company.
That’s why it’s important to cherish everything and every moment that life offered you, especially in your youthful years.
Tomorrow is not promised, but just being comfortable at that stage really makes a difference.
Life begins and life must ends, but friends and family can make all the difference in these twilight years. Yet, too many are for self and not for each other, too many forget the good old days spent with each other, too few remain friends of the heart and too many let you drift in uncharted waters on your own.
If you are remembered it is usually after you have made an exit — and even that is for a short time.
People worldwide have become strangers to each other, past loved ones and frequent lovers of the present — all seem to keep a distance.
Your children are too busy seeing about their own lives and all you get from them (now and then) is: ‘How you feeling?’ But they keep their thoughts on anything material you may leave behind.
Alpha and Omega — the beggining seeks the end and history continues, good or bad. Love that should have been the cement of living gets hard and moments of the past are forgotten.
Yes, growing older can indeed be a source of stress.
So, live the moment, smile while you can — and laugh if possible, because all these emotions drift with the passing of time.