Poems about healthy mentality for the elderly

A healthy mentality in old age is never a "standard essay" that follows a unified template, but is a leisurely poem that belongs only to oneself and follows one's heart - there is no need to insist on "not accepting old age", and there is no need to deliberately "submit old age and lie down", living according to one's own will is the best state.

Last week, I met Aunt Zhang in the fan class at the Community College for the Elderly. Her legs were still covered with the gray wool blanket she knitted last year, and she was writing a limerick of her own on the plain white fan with a marker pen. Three years ago, you would never have guessed that she was the one who cried and said "I have become useless" on the first day of retirement, struggled to re-employ, and finally fell and injured her meniscus, lying at home for half a month wiping tears every day.

To be honest, I used to think that there was a standard answer to "healthy mentality in the elderly", just like the poetry appreciation template I memorized when I was in school. It had to be positive and optimistic, keep up with the times, and not cause trouble to the children. It wasn't until I talked more with Dr. Wang who does elderly psychological intervention in the community that I realized that this was not the case at all.

Nowadays, there is a lot of noise on the Internet about the mentality of caring for the elderly. One group of people holds the view of "active aging", saying that the elderly should live and learn, learn smart phones, learn short videos, and participate in more social activities to be considered out of touch. The other group of people go to the other extreme, saying that after working hard for most of their lives, they should just lie down completely and not do any work or worry about anything in order to enjoy happiness. Both of these statements sound reasonable, but when applied to specific people, they often become "acclimated".

Last month, Uncle Li in our community was caught up in the idea of ​​"active care for the elderly." He already had coronary heart disease. He saw that the elderly in the same community were learning to cut short videos and stayed up all night to compete with the young people. In the end, the videos he cut out did not get many views. He was hospitalized for a heart attack. After he was discharged, he stopped touching his mobile phone. He carried a birdcage to the park every day, and his blood pressure stabilized. There was also Aunt Liu who lived in Building 3. Her children were filial and she was not allowed to do any work, not even to buy vegetables. She said, "You are just helping us when you rest at home." As a result, Aunt Liu stayed at home for half a year and felt like a burden to the family every day.

Dr. Wang told me that in the geriatric mental health assessment standards released by the Chinese Geriatrics Society in 2023, the core indicators do not have hard requirements such as "whether you have mastered new skills" or "whether you participate in social activities". The first one is "emotional stability and self-acceptance." To put it bluntly, your own comfort is more important than anything else, just like writing poetry. No one stipulates that you must write about the righteousness of your family and country, romance, romance, and romance. You can write that today's eggplant is 50 cents cheaper than yesterday, that your little grandson snatched the sweet-scented osmanthus cake from your hand, or that you can smell the hosta fragrance on the roadside for two more minutes because you are lame.

She has a patient who has been followed up for three years, 78-year-old Uncle Chen. Her son insisted on enrolling him in a smartphone training class before, saying that he wanted him to keep up with the times. Uncle Chen took the course for half a month, but he couldn't even make a WeChat video. He was sweating every day and his blood pressure soared. Later, he secretly went to the community gate to repair bicycle tires for free for children passing by. Sometimes he also saved cardboard from home to make nests for stray cats in the community. Now he is very busy every day when he leaves early and comes home late every day. Last time he went for a follow-up visit, his blood pressure was as stable as that of a young person. When he saw Dr. Wang pulling her to look at the new nest he had made for the kittens, he smiled like a child.

Last week, Aunt Zhang and her group, the Poetry Society, held their first offline recital. She recited the poem written on the fan: "Three pieces of eggplant, five pieces of ginger, and my grandson snatched my sweet-scented osmanthus cake. He walked half a beat too slowly on his lame legs, and the fragrance of hostas was floating in the wind." There were all kinds of old people sitting under the table. Some were sweating from dancing in the square every day. Some liked to write calligraphy when they were at home. There were also some like Uncle Chen who squatted at the door every day to repair tires. After listening, they all clapped their hands and said that this poem was written in their hearts.

In fact, is there any unified standard of healthy mentality for the elderly? Just like there is no template that must be followed when writing poetry. If you like to write boldly, go square dancing, travel, and participate in community activities. If you like to write gracefully, just plant flowers, write, and make snacks for your grandchildren at home. Even if you just like squatting under the wall to bask in the sun and watch the ants move, as long as you feel comfortable, don't pinch yourself, and don't compete with yourself, this is the best healthy mentality. To put it bluntly, in the second half of the journey of old age, you should be as comfortable as possible, and live every little life with your own flavor, which is more effective than expensive health products or standard health prescriptions.