As a caregiver for the elderly I've learned many valuable life lessons from assisting them in their day to day lives. They have taught me more than I could ever convey. They are still teaching me everyday, which makes the list of all the things I've learned from them exhaustive. Therefore, I stuck to what we should learn from them.
1. Patience
Working with elderly people is something I never thought I would do. I love my grandparents everyone else's grandparents I wasn’t so sure about. They walk with the ache of time, talk as if they have all the time in the world, and have a gaze that has seen the front lines of life. Most people don't have time for their leisure or their tales of yesteryear. However, taking time to walk and talk with them is how I learned patience. Everyone needs help sometimes, and at their age most of them need a little help and a lot of companionship. In slowing down to walk with them I have learned more than I could ever imagine. Patience truly is a virtue.
2. How to listen
When talking with elderly first: be sure their hearing aids are in and on. Once the hearing aids are in and they can hear you as well as you can hear them just sit back and let the stories begin. I know many people listen to their grandparents’ stories begrudgingly, but for the grandparents they aren’t stories—they’re life. It’s all they have left. They might not remember whose birthday is when and they might call you by the wrong name, but they remember their tales of life and sharing them makes them feel young again. So sit back, relax and listen. Who knows you might just learn something.
3. What it means to “work”
In the days of old, work was not something that people merely sang about. It was something they did. No one had time to write songs and sing about their so-called “work, work, work, work, work”. They were too busy going out and building themselves from the ground up. Days and nights spent doing whatever necessary to put food on the table. Working out in fields, cotton and feed mills, whatever backbreaking work was necessary to make it. They weren’t afraid to labor. Their generation had to overcome fierce adversity. They couldn’t simply “Google” something; they had to store a library of facts in their mind. They know a thing or two about working hard which is something I admire about them.
4. Pride
As a caregiver for the elderly, I’ve learned the hard way that they are proud. They don’t easily ask for help or admit they need it, which is a blessing and a curse. They served their country whether it was working in ammunitions or out in the battlefields. They’re strong. They don’t need my help to stand up. They don’t need my help to get dressed. They don’t need me. This is what their pride tells them. It tells them that they can’t be the strong resilient person they believe themselves to be if they ask for help. When they do admit it, they teach me little by little to take pride in everything I do. Pride can sometimes be a downfall--an Achilles heel, but it can also be a strength and a lesson. They’ve taught me to own everything that I do.
5. How to live
Many people believe that since they are nearer the end of their life, they can’t live. I’ve learned exactly what type of person I hope to become from their vast years of experience. They’ve taught me in their older age that I don’t know how to live. I don’t know what I want to do with my life, or where I want to go, but I’m starting to get an idea. That’s all thanks to them. They teach me everyday how to live a life that I’m proud of. I’ve learned more from witnessing the end of their lives about how to live than I have from any other experiences I’ve had. I believe everyone should take a few lessons from the elderly in their life and truly start living.
Now go hug your grandparents. YOLO
