Dear LPG, 

I think that the realities of older age really start to be felt when we get to retirement.  After that initial feeling of hitting the reality that it is all downhill after that works leaving do, many of us have serious plans so there are both negatives and positives to look forward to.  

I have found myself re-linking with friends and family members who you phone a couple of times a year and always promise to get together with more often when you are working but never get around to. and I have noticed just how many of them are slightly older than me, but that is good because you suddenly stop being the oldest member of the workforce you just left and become the youngest member of your new circle of friends for a bit.

I have spent a lot of time with an aunt lately, firstly on the phone during lockdown and, now that we can meet up we do that at least once a week.  I try to keep our chats positive, but she does spend a lot of time bringing our conversations down.  

No matter how upbeat I try to be at the start of our meetings, she can find some aspect of being older to use as a reason to see a disadvantage on every subject we get talking about.  

The few other family members who make the time for her tend to agree and I have noticed that when we have one of those family gatherings she is the person that is least likely to find anyone to have a bit of a conversation with. 

 I decided to take a look on the internet to see if there were any ideas about ways of keeping the conversation upbeat and I found a few worth looking at, but the saddest thing I found is quite a lot of information which leads me to believe that there must be quite a few negative people out there whose spirits are equally hard to lift. 

Just in case there are any other readers out there who know a person who might need a positive word, I am hoping that sharing a little of what I found might help… 

GN, Kent.

GN offers a few thoughts on talking positive…

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