Inside Aging Parent Care has featured Fifty & Fabulous! The Best Years of a Woman’s Life on their website- Caregivers Wonder “Who Am I Now”- by Carol January 25/ 2011.
Founder Carol Leavenworth encourages caregivers to find themselves again in the pages of Fifty & Fabulous, “For those of us who have spent a decade or more of the middle years in caring for aging parents and find that we have zipped right past midlife to retirement age, this is a book that will aid in the necessary work of taking stock at this time. Post-caregiving, the question, “Who am I now” becomes paramount, just as it has at earlier developmental passages. Thanks, Jaki, for sharing with us your buoyant vision of growing old. ”
It is interesting that Carol uses the question “Who am I now?” as that was the question which popped into my head as I hit 50 and I credit it as one of the “pushes” which moved me to begin my interviews with women 50-102 and finally to the writing of Fifty & Fabulous.
“You read the most amazing wisdom on the Internet. I found this on a blog recently: “Women give themselves away to functions, husbands, children, and work.” I think this quote speaks to what the Women of the Harvest uncover as they begin the work of reaping their crop of wisdom. They not only discover a new season in their lives, they discover themselves, long ago dropped on the field of responsibility and service to others.”
If you are caring for an older relative or friend you will find this blog, Inside Aging Parent Care, an excellent resource and Carol’s view on Fifty & Fabulous may “push” you to the very worthwhile discovery of your own self knowledge. After fifty, self knowledge is the harvest of your wisdom and it can nourish the rest of your life. So if you have been “giving yourself away”, find that self again and bask in what you have become, it will re energize you and everyone around you.
Inside Aging Parent Care hopes to “relieve some of our caregiver stress through sharing and listening. At best we may find a way to redeem our fears about the inevitable end of this road in the hopes of rising above negative attitudes about aging and death.” I highly recommend this website and the work and passion of Carol Leavenworth, her sister Judi Leavenworth and Bill Shanks which, first came to my attention when Carol responded to the NY Times article on Dr Tornstam, Aging’s Misunderstood Virtues. Carol has been a Dr Tornstam and Gerotranscendence fan for a while now. ( Check out The Rogues Gallery on fiftyfab.com). Like me Carol discovered a whole new way of looking at aging through the research of our favorite Swedish professor and as a Jungian analyst Carol found that Dr Tornstam’s revelations rang true for her. You will be moved by Carol’s personal experience of Dr Tornstam’s work, click here to view..
I am particularly encouraged by the support and encouragement of a woman like Carol and Inside Aging Parent Care because these are people who work every day with some of the struggles and realities which may come with aging. Carol’s belief in the message of fearless aging in the face of those realities is proof that the outlook of fearless and fabulous aging is not just for those lucky seniors who have their health and wealth and a well established support networks, it is easy to have a good attitude to life when things are going well. Your attitude informs your response to life, it is the filter through which you view and experience life. The quality of your life is not determined by circumstances but by the attitude with which you receive whatever those circumstances may bring.
If you are a caregiver, thank you for your generosity of heart and time and may the experience fill your own senior years with the gifts of self appreciation and wisdom.
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