Life Summary

Life Summary

In Chapter two, it discusses the physical changes that a person goes through as they age. I can relate to that because I can clearly see some of these processes happening to me as I have grown through the years. When I was in my teens through my thirties, I had a head full of hair. Now that I'm forty six, it is thinning. Oh, boy is it thinning; it is so obvious that I can see the ball spots. Looks like every time that I wash my hair, I loose a lot more of it; making my hair even thinner. I wear wigs in order to hide my thinning hair; I possess a few different wigs for different moods and occasions. I know that this is an attempt to hide my baldness from the world. No one would be able to tell if they were to see me without my wig because I wear my hair natural and its braid and gathered up in a ponytail. I have taken all of these precautions to hide the loosing of my crowning glory.

I guess that I shouldn't be ashamed of it since it is a natural stage of life that I'm going through, but for some reason I want my hair back so that I can display its glory even though it's more salt than pepper. That is another aspect the aging process; however, I am a little skeptical about this one because I started going gray in my twenties. My family has a predisposition of premature graying. My younger brother is thirty seven years old and he's almost as gray as I am. I went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew my license and while I was reading the chart and calling out the letters; I realized that I couldn't see all of them clearly. The young lady was kind and let me try until I got them right, but you better believe that I took myself straight to the optician to get my eyes examined. She said that my eyes weren't bad; I was far-sighted and needed them for driving or watching television. That was a shock for me because I had always had 20/20 vision.

I remember growing up and being reed thin. It was too thin of course; at least people thought that it was. I would give anything to get back to being thin with a flat abdomen and shapely waistline. However, through the years, I have seen the weight gain; it started in my thirties. I can't say that I like it because it makes me look older as well as feel older. I have gone on exercise programs through the years to tone up my body and try to get that youthful look back. I haven't of yet been successful in my attempt; however, I am not giving up. I'll find the incentive and the right strategy for me yet to be successful at keeping to my exercise routine.

According to Bjorklund and Bee, these physical changes that we see as we grow older are called primary aging. These outward changes of our bodies include weigh gain which starts in our thirties and forties and leveling off in our 50s and 60s; and then declining by the 70s. Most of this weight loss in later life is due to muscle and bone tissue being lost and replaced with fat. This is referred to as the "middle-age spread"; it changes our body shape by taking fat from various places of our body and depositing it in the upper arms, thighs, belly and buttocks (p.37-38). Of course, this doesn't have to happen. We can prevent it with exercise and the proper diet. This is something that I most certainly am going to succeed at because I'm not happy with the body that I see.

Another area that we begin to signs of primary aging is our skin and hair. As I discussed earlier, my hair is thinning to the point of baldness in spots and I have graying hair. The reason why I said graying instead of gray hair is because it's still an ongoing process. I'm getting grayer with every day that passes. I used to color my hair and it looked so attractive; however, when you get too much gray; it won't cover it so I desisted with the chemicals. According to Bjorklund and Bee, the graying of the hair differs widely among ethnic groups and among individuals within any one group (p. 42).

There are various procedures and products on the market that people are utilizing to combat these signs of aging. As I mentioned earlier, I have colored my hair in an attempt to hide the gray. To combat the hair loss, I personally have brought wigs and tried Rogaine. However, I couldn't continue with the treatment to see if it worked because I was allergic to it. It made me break out in a rash that looked like hives. Another solution to hair loss is hair transplant. That I haven't tried; for one thing, it's expensive. I would hate to spend so much money on a procedure that didn't work. I am not a gambler with my hard earned money.

Now to discuss these wrinkles that has appeared under and around my eyes. You just don't know how that shocked me one day as I was looking in the mirror. My youthful glow was gone and here before me stood this older person. I am not ashamed to tell you that I have tried; I don't know how many different types and brands of these "miracle wrinkle reducer" lotions and creams. Through the years, I have found that these miracle creams don't deliver the results that they claim. However, all hope isn't gone because if I used a prescription cream, I believe that I would see great results. My skin isn't that bad off as of yet; there is still hope without me having to pay out the big bucks to correct it.

In Chapter three, it discusses health and health disorders. According to Bjorklund and Bee, the mortality rates and disability increase with age. It has been found that older adults have a greater incidence of chronic conditions such as arthritis, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease (p.71). My two grandmothers lived to be in their eighties and until they both were struck down by a stroke; they continued to live perfectly normal lives. My mother's mother had been diagnosed with a heart condition many years ago. Even though she moved a lot slower than usual, she still cooked, cleaned, and managed the house with one of her grown trifling granddaughters and her kids. My cousin wouldn't even lift a finger to clean the house or cook a meal and she was the one with the children. When my mother's mother had her stroke, she didn't last long after that because she was the type of person who was use to doing for herself. She was a very self-reliant person.

In Chapter five it discusses social roles and the transitions that occur through each. It wasn't until recently, that adulthood was described in terms of the number of roles an individual occupies at different stages of life. It theorized that people acquired a large numbers of roles in the early years of adulthood, and then began shedding them in their later years. However, this viewpoint has changed to one of role