Hello everyone, my name is Princess. I am 28 years old. One thing I want you to know about me is that I am very compassionate. I have a passion for helping others and enjoy seeing people happy. A lot of my life experiences have taught me that you never really know what someone is going through just by looking at them. I try not to judge people because everyone has their own story. This is one of the reasons I chose social work. I want to help people feel heard, respected, and supported. My professional experience with older adults comes from my current job working for a CSB as a case manager. I have a mixed caseload, so I work with people of different ages, including older adults. I help older adults find and maintain stable housing, connect them with community resources, and provide ongoing support based on their individual needs. My role has shown me that older adults can face challenges that go beyond just finding a place to live. Sometimes they need help navigating resources, maintaining their independence, or simply having someone who will listen and advocate for them. I hope this class gives me a better understanding of what it is really like to grow older. I want to learn about the physical, emotional, mental, and social changes that can happen as people age.

Part Two: The Meaning of Aging

When I think about older adulthood or later life, I think about reaching a point where you have experienced a lot of life and can look back on everything you have been through. I do not automatically think of aging as something negative. I think it can be a time when people slow down, enjoy life, spend more time with family, and do things they may not have had time to do when they were younger. I think I would consider myself an older adult around 65. However, I do not think turning a certain age automatically makes someone feel old. Some people are in their 70s and still feel young, active, and adventurous. I think how you feel about yourself has a lot to do with how you experience aging. I know I will look different as I get older. I will probably have gray hair, wrinkles, and other changes that come with aging. Honestly, I hope I will be able to embrace those changes instead of being embarrassed by them. I want to feel comfortable with myself and be proud of the person I have become. I also hope I am still able to laugh, have fun, and enjoy life. I hope I will be healthy and able to take care of myself. I know that health problems can happen as people get older, and there is only so much we can control. However, I want to do my best to take care of myself now so that I can hopefully enjoy my later years. I want to stay active, take care of my body, and also pay attention to my mental and emotional health. I see myself spending a lot of time with my family and friends. I would love to travel, enjoy my hobbies, try new things, and just have fun. I would also like to volunteer or continue doing something meaningful if I am able to. I do not want to spend my later years just sitting around. I want to enjoy the life I worked hard to build. My family, friends, traveling, good food, music, hobbies, and simply being able to enjoy life will bring me happiness. I think being able to look back and see how far I have come will also make me happy. I want to be able to say that I lived my life, made memories, helped people, and did things that made me happy. One thing I am afraid of when it comes to aging is losing my independence. I would not like having to depend on other people to do things for me that I have always been able to do myself. Being able to make my own decisions and take care of myself is very important to me, so losing that independence would be difficult. I also think about losing people I love. As we get older, we naturally experience more loss, whether that is family members or friends. That part of aging scares me because the people around us are such a big part of our lives.