Hobbies Can Mitigate Aging
Maintaining broad and intense interests and engaging in various activities are among the best ways to stay youthful. These hobbies can keep you energetic and help you avoid focusing on your age or worrying about the uncertain future. A strong hobby, combined with suitable activities, can prevent anxiety about aging. Unaffected by personal emotions, you can lead a satisfying and comfortable life in old age.
Longevity requires preventing an excessive fixation on the past. People cannot live merely on memories or dwell in nostalgia for better times or mourn deceased friends. Instead, they should focus on the future and engage in activities they enjoy. Accomplishing this can be challenging as the influence of the past tends to increase over time. People often feel their past emotions were more potent, and their minds were sharper than they are presently. If so, it's crucial to move on.
Old age should also involve distancing oneself from overdependence on younger individuals. As their children grow, parents should understand that they need to live according to their own desires. Clinging to the idea that your grown children still need the same level of care as when they were young could make you a burden to them unless they are exceptionally patient. This is not to say that you should neglect your children, but your care should be subtle, generous when possible, and devoid of excessive emotion.
Advising adult children to avoid making mistakes is futile. They may not believe you, and making mistakes is an inevitable part of life's experience. If you feel your life will be empty without dedicating all your thoughts to your children and grandchildren, understand that you can still provide them with material assistance, such as financial support or knitting them sweaters, but don't anticipate their happiness to stem from your company alone.
Fearing death is futile. It is distressing that some older people live in fear of death. For those who have tasted life's joys and sorrows, it is regrettable to be gripped by such fear. The best way to overcome this apprehension is to gradually expand your range of interests and ensure they're not dictated by personal emotions. In doing so, your life will become increasingly intertwined with others'.
Life should resemble a stream that starts small, confined within narrow banks, then rushes enthusiastically over boulders, gradually flowing into the ocean, seamlessly transitioning without obvious interruptions or pauses, and then painlessly letting go of existence. Older individuals who can comprehend life in this manner will not suffer from a fear of death, because everything they value will continue to exist.