Not so good at change

One of the least positive aspects of aging is not dealing well with change. I’m not sure if it’s a problem for older people in general, but for many of advanced age, flexibility is not our strongest suit.

For me, it has less to do with the big things in life - like giving up my home, for instance. I’m fairly stoic about illness, relationship breakups and political upheavals. It’s the little changes that bug me.

For instance, I have a tendency to panic when I’m asked to change my password. A particular aggravation regarding passwords is trying to get into My Unity Point account at Greater Regional Health. I find it difficult to navigate the system when they’re always asking for a code number or prompting me to change my password, which often happens when I accidentally type in a wrong letter or number.

The bottom line - I don’t like changing my password!

The same aggravation happens fairly often with my online account for the Creston News Advertiser. Every few weeks, I’m asked to reenter my email and password. When required to do so, with arthritic fingers and eyesight not as sharp as it used to be, it’s too easy to hit the wrong keys and mess things up to the point I have to call into the office and request help.

Our television system at my daughter’s home is not cable; it’s streaming. I watch a lot of sports and it’s a full-time job figuring out if I’m going to be able to see a game or not. I do appreciate the fact that in the past we hardly ever got to see games on TV, but let’s face it - streaming systems can be maddening. Fortunately, my daughter is getting pretty good at communicating with representatives from each streaming service and keeps us “tuned in” most of the time.

Periodically, without notice, when I’m here at home by myself, I am asked to log in again to keep a particular service going. I don’t do well with logging in. When entering letters, numbers and punctuation marks on a search grid, invariably, I hit the wrong letter or forget to space between words and then must backtrack or even start completely over. The level of frustration makes me long for the old days of three networks and a TV antenna.

Companies have no idea how stressful it is to try and keep all of our communications devices operating. Take UScellular for instance. Their frequent notices that an update is coming for my phone creates anxiety. I worry that functions on the phone I’ve finally mastered, somewhat, will change. It’s the same reason I stick with an outdated phone far longer than I should.

Having negative attitudes toward change isn’t confined to things relating to technology. My negativity can be far more encompassing. I have an aversion to staying overnight at hotels. Even for one night. There’s not a chance I’m going to be able to sleep. The beds are too high, the pillows too big, the light switches too complicated and there’s not enough air circulating - to name just a few of my complaints.

I’ve had to get accustomed to changes at Greater Regional Health because it’s never ending. Building and remodeling at the hospital to keep up with the demand for services, means older people like me must look for a doctor or a clinic or a lab in a different place fairly often.

I’ll admit, however, expansion of quality health services here at home is wonderful. I greatly appreciate it and will gladly endure the frequent changes in order to avoid traveling to Des Moines.

One of the changes older folks don’t like to think about is our children are also growing older. I don’t mind advancing in age, but I don’t like seeing my kids doing it, too. When their hair begins to grey, it’s a little startling. When they become grandparents, it really hits home.

Change is inevitable, especially life-altering change. Families develop new interests, form new relationships, begin new careers and sometimes face difficult challenges and overwhelming sadness. Living long lives means we’re going to see a lot of it.

Sadly, some of the hardest changes we experience in life occur at an age when we feel the least able to endure them.