Afraid To Lose Your Independence After 65?

Here are five easy guardrails to protect your independence, autonomy, and support successful aging

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

“Growing older is not about holding onto youth; it is about holding onto the freedom to choose how we live each new day.” — Annelie ❤️

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One of the greatest fears of growing older is not wrinkles, gray hair, or even illness. Studies show our greatest fear is losing independence and the freedom to decide how we want to live our lives. For example, having adult children helping us when we ask is very different from having them meddle in our personal lives without an invitation. More often than not, autonomy lies in the gap between the two.

Independence without autonomy is an illusion. But we can have autonomy while being dependent and still live a good life. After my mom suffered a stroke and became paralyzed on the right side at age 64, her independence was gone, but her mind and autonomy were intact until she died almost 20 years later.

Still, life as she knew it, or wanted it, was never the same.

More often than not, successful aging requires both autonomy and independence, and that…