Community Chat

[qualitygal]

@Havarti, Bless you, you're one smart cookie and very observant and understanding.

[qualitygal]

We have so many lovely, unplanned, unrushed, days now, we mostly can go  by whatever day it feels like. It seems like a lot of Saturdays. Since I didn't on most of my jobs have to work Saturdays, that is a lot wonderfulness now. I don't care if they run together, we've never missed an appointment yet.

[Stray]

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@Havarti wrote:

I volunteer with seniors and have come to realize that even the most astute often lose track of what day it is.  I have come to the conclusion that a working week is so structured that the activities specific to each day tell us subconsciously what day it is.  What worker or parent doesn’t know the feel of Monday morning or Friday afternoon.  During the week there are triggers such as garbage day, maybe a meeting at work that is held weekly on the same day at the same time, there are kid’s activities/practices, religious activities that occur on a set schedule, favorite TV shows that come on weekly, etc.  All these consistently repetitive patterns in the course of each week set our inner clocks to set our sense of timing.  When the kids are grown & gone and we are retired many (if not most) of those patterns disappear.  By the time someone makes it into senior living environment even things like garbage day are irrelevant.  Days become the same and they run into weeks that are the same.  Big events are doctor’s appointments and the results of medical tests are like getting your SAT/ACT scores – news to be celebrated & shared because they may dictate your very future.   

I watch staff at senior centers asking questions of the residents like “do you know what day it is?” and I think those young workers are in the cycle of life where the pattern of the days/weeks are clearly defined.  They think if someone can’t answer those questions they must have memory issues.  I don’t think that is necessarily true.

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@Havarti- I agree...when I worked and was off on the weekend or vacation, I always would wake before my alarm and had to think...do I go to work today?  It isn't about aging but a defined period of time but when you don't have structure and your time is your own, Saturday is often the same as Wednesday....of course, there are extremes when people do have memory loss but not knowing the day of the week does not determine the depth of loss and there are more relevant signs and better questions to ask to determine the depth of a problem....

[ALRATIBA]

I've only been retired six years ... so far so good.  I haven't lost track of time. 

I've always kept appts on my phone/computer, and just about everyone sends out text reminders these days!  

I have fixed "events" on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.   Mondays and Fridays are my only totally free days ... and those are the days I'm available to get together with "the ladies" for lunch and adult beverages.    

I guess the remedy is to keep yourself busy. 

[SaRina]

"You" can be extremely busy even without structure, although it is more difficult for most people.  It's where creativity comes in... and it is a nice challenge.

[151949]

I guess I phones tell you the day of the week. My LG phone just gives the date. However, I have my calender app on my phone set so it highlights the current day. When I check it in the morning to see if I have anywhere I need to be - I see the day and date.

[hckynut]

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@viva923 wrote:

that is why my DH is still working. He wants to remain active as long as he can. We are well over retirement age but he wants to keep his hands busy.

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@viva923

Tell you DH retirement has has absolutely nothing to do with being active. I have been retired since 1991 and my activities increased, not diminished. Unless DH considers his job "his activity", why would retirement change it. More time=more activity, that was and is still my view.

Only things that slowed my activity level down, were sports injuries and a few life and death health issues. It drives me "craaaazy" when I see or hear anyone even think "retirement" decreases activity. That statement has never and will never make even an iota of sense to me.

If any man works past retirement age to me here are what I see as the main 2 reasons, which some don't want to say. #1 is Financial reasons and #2 is(I am speaking only the male gender now) their jobs were/ARE their lives.

"He wants to stay active"?  Grrrr! Would love to have a man tell me that to my face. I could talk forever to him about equating retirement with his activity level. A healthy retired man, there is no limit to the number of "ACTIVE" things I could suggest, to a willing and able retired man.

Now how I really feel.           =^..^=

hckynut(john)

[Havarti]

I was a frequent visitor of my best friend’s father when he was in a senior care community.  He had initial memory issues, so I was always trying to help find ways for him to hang on to details that were starting to slip away.  Two cute stories still stay with me.

I bought him a big calendar that only dealt with one day at a time.  Then I discovered it was not laid out in the format that he thought.  So I would create those daily pages for him in the order his mind comprehended best.  The header on the calendar said TODAY IS and then the page would say FRIDAY (next line) JANUARY (next line in huge numbers) 20 (next line) 2016.  If it was a birthday or some special day I would add clip art that would help him remember.  We would talk about that page each day as we tore off the old page and focused on the new one.  The staff would come around periodically and ask him questions that included “can you tell me what day it is?”  He really liked that calendar because he would say to them….if you really want to know why don’t you just look at that calendar like I do?  He always made me laugh!

Another thing I did (because all days in those places seem the same) I would try to find any form of regularity and focus on that pattern to help him identify the day.  I noticed that they tended to offer spaghetti on the menu every Wednesday so I started pointing this out to him…look – it must be Wednesday because they are having spaghetti.  One day my friend & I took him out for lunch and someone in the restaurant (not with us) was being served spaghetti.  He saw this and proudly announced to everyone that today is Wednesday!  He was such a delightful man!

[SunnyRose]

I really want to have this problem as long as it's not a real memory issue,

I've been debating whether or not to retire early.I've been with the same company for 28 years and I am ready! I want to take care of my grandkids a couple days a week and my mom is ill so I could spend more time with her. Right now I'm healthy so..,.I think I just convinced myself. Happy day whichever one it is,

[Shanus]

@jlkz. I agree. Not totally retired and hubby working full time, but days run together sometimes. My pills also in MTW strip...white one for morning pills & blue strip MTW for bedtime pills. Sad to know which day when taking pills, right? 😜