The Wisdom Of The Elderly

The wisdom of the elderly is infinite, they only need us to be willing to listen with our hearts to their life stories and about life. May we be willing to appreciate the wisdom that only the years have allowed you to acquire. They and they are the best example that “the devil knows more for old than for devil” , and this would be just one of the sayings of the many that they could quote. They advise you based on their own experience, their triumphs and their defeats. That for various and different, they are rich.

Life has nuances, not everything is black or white, in reality there are few things that are and when you listen to their stories you realize it. If you pay attention, you discover how different experiences build a whole life. A life in which key moments, shocking moments, even some unforgettable moments are those that will mark our character and build our life story. Moments and moments related to love and family or even something as inevitable as death. 

Working as a telecare service operator has allowed me to learn many stories from users and family members. Giving me the opportunity to listen to them, understand them and soak up their affection and of course their wisdom, the wisdom of older people.

Love

Advice on love and the importance of choosing your life partner well are part of the wisdom of older people. As many say, especially as many ladies say: sooner or later the children leave home, it is the law of life. That march can leave a void by causing major changes in family dynamics.

Some parents can develop empty nest syndrome. At that time when the children are no longer at home and you retire, you have more free time and much of that time is shared with your partner. Therefore it is advisable to have a good relationship, to understand each other well. Otherwise, loneliness weighs despite being in a relationship.

On the other hand,  talking to older people helps you believe in love more strongly than ever. Couples that last more than thirty, forty, fifty or even sixty years together. Overcoming difficulties of all kinds, like a great team. Widowers or widows who with great regret long for their life partner. They remember him with affection and gratitude. Remembering great and small details such as: how great a father or mother he was, his jokes, his hobbies, how he liked to go to the field or play with his grandchildren….

Others must separate while their partner is alive, in some cases the love of their life. Upon entering one of them in residence, the other staying alone at home. The vast majority visit their partner practically every day. It does not matter what illness she suffers or if she can speak or remember to her.

Loneliness

Loneliness is the framework of sadness that many older people feel . Knowing loneliness is also part of his wisdom. Loneliness that they feel at times because they do not want to bother, at other times because they have distanced themselves from their family, and at other times because they have little or no family or friends left.

There are stories of all kinds. Many children do not want to know anything about their parents, rightly or wrongly, I am not the one to judge them. But I do suspect that some older people if they could go back in time would do things differently.

When we are young we never think that one day we will be old and that our actions today can have serious consequences tomorrow. That not treating people well, not making an effort to relate to others, can isolate us from human beings, from society and even from our loved ones.

We all need others, after all, human beings are social animals. Having hobbies or knowing how to find them at any age is important, it is a great cure for loneliness . Some of these hobbies will be to enjoy in company and others instead alone, but in any case they help to socialize. As in the case of an 85-year-old user, to whom her grandchildren gave her a tablet and in it she plays different games such as the famous Candy Crush. Thanks to this new hobby, she spends hours entertaining, at the same time that she trains her mind and also favors bonding with her grandchildren.

The family

Valuing the importance of the family is part of the wisdom of older people. How important is the family for those who have it and for those who do not have that luck. Not only children are important, many nephews take care of their uncles and aunts as if they were their own parents, they go out of their way for them and it becomes evident when you talk to them.

Family was, is and will be important. Family memories are always valuable, both those lived and those that continue to be created when they receive visits from children and grandchildren or other relatives. There are many anecdotes that they tell, some recent and others not so recent. Many of them tell anecdotes about their parents or siblings. I remember several conversations that impressed me:

• With a user who recited several poems that her father had created. She hadn’t gotten to write any of them on paper, but her father’s memory was kept alive every time she recited his poetry. Precious poems full of life and popular wisdom.
• With another user who fondly remembered her father, who taught her brother and her to read and write at night. Even today, at 80, he remembers perfectly the title of the first book he read at the age of seven, The Adventurer Duckling .

Death

Learning to accept death as part of life is a fundamental pillar in the wisdom of the elderly.  The truth is that they accept that death is near, without ceasing to live. Even enjoying much more of what they have within their reach and discarded in their life history those points in which they stopped being dwarves and became giants.

However, it is usually more difficult to accept other types of losses. Such as the deterioration of one’s physical and mental faculties or the loss of loved ones, such as friends and family.

The family, as in childhood, comes to occupy the most important place. However, now it is not the parents, but the children, who attract all their attention. Most rest better or worse depending on how they imagine their future, how they feel that they have solid, rooted and stable pillars that allow them to grow.

The wisdom of the elderly

Give thanks for the wisdom of the elderly. They are grateful for the life they have had, understanding that their journey has been long and that the fact that their hearts beat is a gift. They do not deny or regret difficulties, they understand that thanks to them they are what they are and that it has been a fascinating dialectic between luck and their will that has brought them to the point where they are. They do not turn their backs on illusion. We can see it while they play cards after eating or in the moments they have to share with their grandchildren.

They remind us that work humanizes us, constituting the tapestry on which we develop many of our skills. But what harm do we do when we make it the center of our lives. Older people often regret the moments in which they fell into this temptation and not those in which they succumbed to those proposals to share time that came from their family or friends.

From work they also rescue that sense of utility that it generates. At this point the case of a person who with more than 80 years enrolled in painting classes comes to mind without ever having painted before. Now he gives paintings to the whole family and he does it with that priceless feeling of having the ability and the will to generate value despite and thanks to the years.

Many older people are fond of reading, their family environment has favored their interest in culture, despite the difficulties. They read the newspaper or books of all kinds, from the most classic novels to the most current essays. They look for content that they like and those formats that are more adapted to their physical abilities, especially to their degree of vision.

What can we learn by listening carefully to older people? They have a lot to teach us about life, both from their experience and from the way they face it today. Older people save for those who want to hear stories full of strength and courage, smiles and tears, sun and rain…. His stories are full of anecdotes of all kinds, of happy moments and of not so happy moments, even sad ones. And best of all, they are eager to share them.

The wisdom of the elderly is infinite …