It is a common belief that as a person ages, there is a tendency to pull back from society and resist new experiences; this is often called "Cocooning".
Part of me wonders if that belief is true and another part of me screams loudly that it is not. I just turned 66 years old and I seem to be doing more than I ever did earlier in my life. Now, I do find that there is a resistance to being involved in "everything". And "everything" in this context represents the things that others feel I should be involved in. Maybe there's a tendency to misinterpret one's desire to focus on what matters to them personally rather then to be involved with all the other activities society normally expects a person to be involved in.
I truly have a better understanding now of some of the great researchers throughout history that were knowen to lock themselves in their study to deeply focus on their chosen field of interest. Nothing is more disconcerting than being interrupted randomly. (That was this morning's adventure. I had planned to write this article at about 8 AM and here it is 1:15 PM.)
Now let me be clear, there is a distinction between healthy Cocooning and someone who was isolating themselves for other reasons. People must develop the social emotional awareness skills to tell the difference. If I'm truly honest with myself my personality destined to be a bit of a loner but that is because I like to focus deeply. My moods are always fine when I'm in the state and I can easily converse with whoever comes by. Sometimes I get a little too caught up in the conversing as a matter of fact. I must've been a storyteller in a previous life 😁.
Contrast that with someone who is normally social but starts to slowly withdraw from friends or just become less involved with their growth. One of the telltale signs that this is not healthy is that there mood goes down and they become fatigued. If you see this happening it is most definitely our warning sign. Frequently persons in such states tend to really resist help. Usually it is also true that the more aware they are emotionally the more they can manipulate and hide.
You may wonder why I am choosing to talk about this particular topic now. It is the end of summer and the beginning of full it's not too far away. For myself this means I must be extra vigilant because the winter months sometimes bring that negative cocooning behaviour. So this is my way of reminding myself to pay attention. As luck would have it, my local health department just started up a pilot program focused on the elderly and mental health. Specifically a cognitive therapy group, so I hustled to my butt and got down there to sign up. The more tools I can have at my disposal, the better. Also others may be feeling the same urges. To you I say make appropriate early preparations, what ever that may be, and a do not fool yourself into thinking: "I can do this all by myself." If you need help ask for it.
But also looking at this behaviour from a larger perspective, I find it fascinating. It is indeed a message to society understand the differences and benefits involved in allowing someone to focus deeply on their field of choice, be it a hobby or something more formal, and recognizing the difference when the behaviours are not healthy.
Of course one of the things it gets in the way of detecting the differences is that we are also busy and distracted. People multitask like they are the main programmer in the movie The Matrix. Even if you don't know what the matrix movie, is you get the idea. There's a message here for those super multitasking people, "they to need to take stock of where their emotional and physical well-being is." You cannot and should not even try assuming that your body is indestructible. As everyone ages, they inevitably find this out and it is usually a surprise. Because our society does not test to be that aware to focus on checking in with yourself from time to time. However it is something you really should do. Put down the cell phone, or your favourite device of distraction and just ask yourself how you're doing.
Well, that's my little article for today. I really have no idea what the next article will be. But rest assured there will be something that pops into my mind 😃. I'm debating at the moment whether I want to dedicate a video for this particular posting. We are getting close to the weekend, so I think I will have some time.
Take care Patrick
