Aging Matters In A Changing Society: Personal Life Portfolio

AGING MATTERS IN A CHANGING SOCIETY: A PERSONAL LIFE PORTFOLIO ESSAY “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone”-Andy Rooney. This paradox might be one of the saddest truth in the life of humankind. Many people are scared of aging and death. Most are afraid of losing their wise and reflective memory, clear and sharp eyesight, well-poise body posture, and even their fair, young unwrinkled face. As people age, it is not a surprise that human being started to feel anxious, depressed, and frightened of what their life would turn to be. Adults know how life would be limited into the capabilities and possibilities that an individual can do as they grow old and matured. They are aware of how their physical, emotional, and social development will start to slow down and deteriorate. However, if we did examine, do we need to be anxious nor be bothered by the concept of getting old? Do we need to be helpless about our changing body and society? Well, the answer is no. Although aging is a natural process of human stages of development, it is still not a means for restraining our strength and opportunities as we grow older. If we come to think of it, physical attributes, achievements, and even fame that we treasured right now are all temporary. What matters most about growing is our ability to influence and inspire others on how we live our lives and how we endure the challenges that we encounter in our journey through adulthood. As George Burns mentioned in his quotation, “You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” This means that instead of getting scared, the powerful weapon that we can equip ourselves will be our proactive mind and action. We need to think that we can still make something relevant as we grow old and this will serve as a legacy that no one will never forget even after we die. Adulthood is a new stage of opportunity and strength, and as an adult, I will not let my chance to pass without imparting my hopes, influence, and inspiration to others which I know I can begin with a life portfolio at hand. This article aimed to write not only a personal life portfolio as a requirement but a life portfolio of plans and opportunities I can and I will take to make my existence meaningful with a legacy to leave for hope, motivation, and inspiration. Building a life portfolio is about developing a mindset of making choices which put our lives in a strategic plan to steer our objectives and keeping us on the track of making these goals come true. The three aspects of this plan revolved around life-long learning, work, and community service. I do believe that to make a difference, one should know first to admit that he/she is insufficient and still requires a lot of room for improvement. This is where the aspect of life-long learning comes in. If change is the only permanent in this world, then it is most necessary that we, as humans also grab our chance for our self-progress and continuous development in education. I aimed to spend more time and expose myself to professional growth during and even after graduation. I would like to situate myself in a meaningful learning environment wherein I am eager to unlearn, learn, and relearn, especially that I am in the field of expertise, which I believe would provide a larger grasp of experiences for my growth and development. Pursuing life-long learning doesn't mean that I wanted to be ahead of others. But in my opinion, this merely proves how much I love and honor the craft I have chosen by giving the best shot that I can do as possible. Life-long learning also enabled us to retain not only our cognitive ability as a whole but most importantly, our social functionality as well. Thus, this provides us a sense of fulfillment and wisdom that even though we grow old, our purpose and value to society still lives on (Panitsides, 2013). Learning will only be meaningful if we know how to apply it in the context of the real-life scenario or the working environment, hence, making work as the second aspect of my life portfolio. Job serves as a vital aspect of aging. Work enables adults to take pride in their interest, provide them with a ground to show their worth and national contribution as an individual, and support a satisfying community to nurture trust and sensitivity as a person. Thus, making work as a relevant facet of planning a life for adulthood. Like other college graduates, I aimed to acquire a marketing job which I am interested in and which I know could help me foster my professional competencies. Of course, all of us dream to have a decent job on which we are well-compensated and surrounded by a community of trusted and respected professionals. I would like to settle in a well-compensated job to invest and make money for my everyday needs, for my family’s necessities, and also for my plans and intentions. I find this very important since not all throughout our lifetime that we will earn as much as we have when we were younger. I also wanted to create a working environment with both sense of professionalism and a community of friends because I believe too that a satisfying workforce didn’t last with money or even job security. Thus, a satisfying workforce comes with a community of employees who know how to share, help and treat each other as family (Drabe et al. 2014). ...