Maintaining a feeling of connectedness with others, our communities, and even life itself can be challenging as we age, as the diminishment and loss of faculties, the departures of friends and family, and the march of time can make older people feel like relics living among strangers, even in communities where they have lived their whole lives. An older friend remarked recently that she was walking on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall, a place where she once worked and had many friends, and while the mall was crowded with people she did not see one person she knew.
"Who are all these people," she laughed, " and where has the time gone?"
Like many older people, my friend was inclined to shrug off the realization, and just take it in stride, but how we respond to feelings like this, what attitudes we bring with us into the later halves of our lives, can be crucial to our health and our well-being...and how we experience that part of our lives.
Thanks to historic increases in longevity, many of us approaching 40 or 50 years of age will find ourselves with, as aging researcher Deepak Chopra puts it, a long "second birth–half of our lives" stretched out before us, one "leading to territory as unknown as the first half of life is to a newborn baby."
"In this second life, as it were, we will reap the benefits and deficits developed in the first 45-50 years," writes Chopra. "We must all be psychologically prepared for this in advance. Inertia, which means doing the same old things as before, will be deadly psychologically and perhaps physically as well."
Chopra mentions isolation and loneliness as things to be particularly mindful of, conditions that he said can lead to "rapid aging."
As you might know, May is Older Americans Month, and this year's theme is "Powered by Connection," which addresses what Chopra is talking about.
"This is so important for seniors, and for all of us, because connection helps to prevent isolation, " said JABA CEO Marta Keane in a recent TV interview. "And we know isolation creates certain declines in mental, emotional, and physical health."
Keane encouraged people to look out for family and friends and neighbors, to let them know about services available at JABA and in the community. She also pointed out how JABA's Community Centers and Respite & Enrichment Centers for those who need extra help provide socialization and connection crucial to well-being.
Indeed, at a recent celebration of Older Americans Month at JABA's location on Hillsdale Drive I went to recently, which brought together people of all ages from their centers, isolation and loneliness didn't have much of a chance when everyone started dancing to "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb:
Let's show the world we can dance…
Grooving loose
Or heart to heart
We put in motion
Every single part
David McNair handles communications, media relations, and social media efforts for JABA. This article originally appeared in C-Ville Weekly.