A friend of mine visits his elderly mother every week and notices that the aged care home she’s in has many old people who are alone, and many of them look like they have no will to live.
While feeling sad after hearing this and wanting to entertain them all, I also begin to plan what I’m going to do should I live in an aged care home one day (if I’m still alive).
Here is my weekly plan:
Monday is exercise and knowledge day. All of us must exercise and read at least one chapter of our favourite book. Then use the rest of the day to discuss what we read. This is important to reduce the risk of dementia. And even though the study hasn’t been able to prove that intellectual activities definitely avoid dementia, I’ve heard and met old people who don’t have dementia. And they all have similarities: they’re active, they read books, they watch comedies. This proves that it’s possible for humans to be old and free from dementia.
Tuesday is alone time, appreciating every single minute of being alone. Reading, writing, walking, catching up with our sleep if we were partying too hard on the weekend (What? Just because we’re old, we can’t party?). Being alone once or twice a week is not only good for our well-being but also good to appreciate our friendship more, not taking them for granted.
Wednesday is game time. We’ll play our favourite games. Whatever they are.
Thursday is high tea and movie time. Or just be alone again. Why not? Solitude is awesome.
Friday night is fun night. I’ll take all my friends to play bingo. Or night clubs to dance or just chill. Or go to male strippers. If the aged care management doesn’t allow this, I’ll make sure some windows are unlocked so we can all climb out when no one’s watching. Imagine that… a bunch of old people coming out of the windows. Just like school days… when I helped my classmates skip class. Fun time. YOLO (You Only Live Once). I feel like slapping people when they say YOLO, but who knows, maybe I’ll be one of those people when I’m really old – if I’m still alive.
Saturday is when everyone chills with their families. If they’re like me, i.e. have no visitors, we’ll have high tea in the afternoon, then movie night in the evening. Or if it’s too beautiful outside, we’re all going to sit under the stars and just chill.
Sunday is garden time. Playing with soil and watching things grow are good for the soul. Then showing off our musical skills, if we have any.
The point is, being old shouldn’t stop us from doing the activities we enjoy. And having no children or families shouldn’t make us feel miserable. There will always be people who are in the same boat, and if we open up, we may have the best friendship anyone can ever imagine.
Sounds silly? I disagree. This may be just an idea at this stage, but something you may want to think of. If your children decide to abandon you one day, or end up trafficking drugs, being in jail for the rest of their life and unable to take care of you, fear not. Join us people who never have any children. We’ll have fun!
For that, you’ll have to start taking care of your health now, start exercising and eating right so you can all join me jumping out the window to go see male strippers on Friday night.
And therefore, I’ll have to see a lot of male strippers from now on… so when I’m old (and still alive) I’d be experienced enough to judge whether the strippers are doing their job properly.
And if I have to die before I reach old age… I’ll hang around on Earth for a little while, if permitted, just to enjoy every single second of defying gravity and taking a nap on top of a very tall tree without worrying about falling down, or ants, or spiders. I’d also like to haunt several powerful people to force them to destroy as many evil deeds as possible and make the Earth a better place to live for everyone, not just for the 1%.
Does this post make you uncomfortable? I hope not. I know some people get easily uncomfortable when I talk about death and old age. Whether you like it or not, everyone, yes, everyone will either reach old age or die before they get old. These things are unavoidable… at the moment. Unless someone comes up with something that stops death and/or aging, like replacing the brain and heart with machines or something.
I hope this post inspires you to start living with joy, despite having no family. And should you die before you get old, I hope this post also inspires you to haunt some people as mentioned above.
Do it. Do it for humanity. Do it for the planet!
