Too start I have been so confused on how all of the systems for this class work and realized I completely missed a blog post. 🙁 Not like me at all, its just 3 sites I am having to keep up with. However, let’s get started.

Putting Myself in that Situation.

If I really had to come to terms with being sick, or even facing death, it would affect me in all areas of my life. Physically, I could lose my ability to pursue my routines exercising regularly, eating in a way I enjoy, travelling as I want, or being as physically active as I want to be. To lose any sort of control over my own physical body would be difficult. Emotionally, I may feel sadness and fear, both for myself and sadness for my family because I do not want them to worry or be concerned. I already know I would grieve the loss of being able to do things in the same way. Socially, my family and friends may be around me to take care of me or visit which could help foster a sense of closeness, but also foster shame, guilt or feelings of being a burden. I can’t stress enough how much I hate feeling like I am making myself someone else’s problem a trauma I have from my childhood. Financially, I may have overwhelming medical bills or expenses associated with hospice, especially if I was sick for a number of years. My first reactions to this reality would likely be fear, sadness, and even some anger of not living into the plans I had imagined for later in life.

Changes to my ideal older adult life.

In my ideal version of older-adulthood, I see myself as vibrant, healthy, and spending almost all of my time with family, travelling, and enjoying all the things I earned and worked hard for. If I were quite ill or facing death, that vision would shift a lot. Instead of holidays or family reunions, I would probably be doing a lot of treatment or comfort care; however, my desire to spend time with my loved ones would remain. I would want my family near me but the activities may look different, perhaps storytelling, music, or simply sharing meals in my home rather than taking big trips.

CARA model & GRRs for resilience

The CARA model (Coping, Appraisal and Resilience in Aging) indicates that the way I cope with and appraise stress determines my resilience. Personally, facing illness and death is overwhelming, but I could draw upon Generalized Resistance Resources (GRRs) to help manage. Social support would be an important resource since my family is close. Spirituality and faith may help me find peace, reminding me there is meaning in life beyond the physical component. Knowledge and planning, such as learning about hospice, would allow me to feel more in control. Even if I could not exercise like I do now, positive routines that involve walking, journaling, or praying may give me some level of stability. For me, resilience in this situation, would not be about eluding sadness; rather I would appreciate the joys of closeness with my family and acknowledge decline. It would be about being able to say my life was lived fully and I left love behind.

Peer-reviewed article:

One article I found describes how older adults in hospice positively draw upon spirituality and family connection to cope with their fear of death. The results indicate that individuals who rely on faith, strong family connection, and a supportive hospice team developed more peace at the end of life, while also importantly making family feel less of a burden. This article helped me understand that resilience at the end of life often comes from acceptance of support versus resisting it; that adopting a perspective on meaning, connection and faith could ease both an individual and family’s fears.

Reference

Park, C. L., Smith, P. H., Lee, S. Y., & Mazure, C. M. (2019). Positive resources for managing death anxiety in late life: Coping, meaning, and spirituality. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 74(8), 1386–1394. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gby123