FLEXIBILITY

Older people are often accused of becoming rigid and inflexible in their attitude towards life. Most of the time I would vehemently challenge this accusation, but all stereotypes have a grain of truth in them.

There may be a tendency for us to become entrenched in our comfort zones, having lost the joy of the unknown and the new adventures that accompany the untrodden path. We are resistant to doing familiar activities differently or different things altogether. Why risk the unknown when we can take comfort from the familiar?

The health of our brains and psychological wellbeing is a very good reason to challenge our entrenched habits and activities. Such changes go a long way in keeping our brains supple. It may be that we have to consciously challenge ourselves to break the pattern of familiarity. It might be time to recapture our childhood essence of living joyfully in the moment.

Interestingly we have had to embrace ever changing circumstances to our daily lives, foisted upon us by the pandemic over the last 18 months. Gone are the days when we can plan weeks and months ahead as we are unable to predict what the next surprise might be that the pandemic has in store for us.

Personally, I have had to cancel and rearrange so many flights to try and get to my home in France. Following the recent relaxation of the Covid rules, I was certain that this time I could safely travel to France without interruption, albeit with the constraints of PCR Testing before travelling and returning to the U.K. Not so!

Once again, all my plans were in disarray when a week before I was due to travel the Government yet again introduced isolation when returning from France. I was devastated and on the verge of cancelling my trip for the umpteenth time. However, I had an epiphany and realised that I too am becoming averse to changes to carefully laid plans and that I have lost my sense of adventure along the way.

I realised that I could change various commitments in my diary allowing me to self-isolate on my return. It didn’t pose a great inconvenience to me unlike working families with school going age children. In fact, I was so lucky that I could still travel despite some adjustments to my plans upon my return.

I am consciously trying to embrace the continues changing circumstances imposed on us by the pandemic and instead of resistance, see it as an opportunity for discovering new experiences. Taking a leaf from my own book, I reminded myself that it is all about Attitude!

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