Life-long learning is important for the elderly because, throughout life, we progress through different stages and life phases that enable us to learn the various responsibilities that are associated with our age, and contribute to our development as independent people who contribute to society and human well-being.
On the other hand, life-long learning is important to identify our preferences and what we like or dislike in life, our dreams and ambitions, and to guide us on a path to success and happiness. As a result of our life achievements list, we will proud as we reflect on our memories and successes. As we become wiser with age, we learn from our mistakes and move forward to making even better decisions in our life.
Stages of Life-Long Learning
Life-long learning is separated into different life stages. When we were children, we enjoyed a moment of our lives when we began to develop our identities, our interests, and our conceptions of the world and the society, as we were influenced by an array of factors, like our school’s education curriculum, or peers, our parents, our siblings, etc.
When we became teenagers, we began to develop a better conception about our world, and developed the critical-thinking skills to better understand the world around us, and began to embrace important decision in odyssey towards our life journeys.
As we aged into adulthood, we entered a stage where we assumed different responsibilities, from driving along our professional pathways, growing our little family, and planning the acquisition of resources for the next steps of our life.
Finally, when we enter the life stage of our golden age, we have greater time to relax and enjoy as we please, as we check off our bucket list and wish list. However, we tend to compromise as we no longer have the same energy and vitality as we did in our previous years, as our entire life is a process for which we also pass through different mental and physical condition stages.
Importance of Life-Long Learning
Each life stage is marked with different experience levels. With each dimension, we embrace learning steps to ensure personal and often professional growth. Our increased knowledge provides us with the endless possibilities to modify our behavior, conceptions, and habits as we learn from each action and activity we make every day, so that we may become even better the next day.
Now, let’s imagine that you’re interested in creating a charity or undertaking a new project, and you realize that there are different formations and training courses that teach you the bases of an enterprise, and the different abilities and resources that you need, there you find a process that you can follow to achieve your objectives. Another simple example is that you don’t know how to control your emotions, and that affects your daily life, but you talk with a friend that had a similar experience and your friend helps you to find solutions.
Anyone can access knowledge anytime and anywhere. In fact, each day, you can learn something new that will help you to better solve and manage different aspects of your life. Just remember, there is a plethora of information available, but it all depends on how you use and apply the information to your life, and how much you genuinely care to learn and improve. By continuously learning, we will be able to promote the acquisition of a set of knowledge, skills, and competencies to enable us to become contributing members as we are an integral part of society.
In addition, life-long learning keeps our brains stimulated and allow us, particularly elderly, to maintain our role as active citizens who are able to continue performing all of our daily activities as independently and productively as possible. Also, continuous learning maintains the stimulation of our brains, our cognitive functions, and delays the onset of cognitive declines and Alzheimer’s disease. Learning improves our health awareness and disease literacy so we may ensure we enjoy the nutritious winter foods. Life-long learning also helps us maintain our self-awareness, health, well-being, civic participation, and self-confidence. As a result, we will have improved mental health and will reduce our dependence on a drug.
As your Anchorage Senior Living home, we feel that our Alaskan senior residents can’t simply stop learning, as they may sometimes actually be learning without actively realizing they are. We encourage our Alaskan senior citizens to learn daily, such as how to use different technologies, how to play new games, how to improve communication and talk even better, how to stay aware about the world around them, and how to care for themselves in a new way. We provide a wealth of information to help our residents continue their life-long learning, and have noticed the following:
Learning Offers an Emotional Boost
Learning is directly related to increased self-esteem and self-confidence. When you learn something new, you feel emotionally strong, confident, and proud of yourself. You are more likely to perform well when you are appreciated, so we congratulate and award our seniors who are always trying to learn and read. Consequently, learning new tasks in old-age can be an emotional boost for your seniors.
Learning Is Easy with Time
As you age, you get one thing in abundance- that is time. In our busy lives during our younger years, we may not always find the time to create long-lists about new topics we wish to learn about.
Subsequently, retirement is the perfect time to learn those new topics or to take a course you have always wanted to try out. Seniors at Baxter Senior Living Anchorage find themselves frequently enjoying their engagement in numerous learning activities.
Learning Helps Socialization
Learning a new task together can be a great opportunity to socialize with others. For example, if you enroll in a yoga class, then not only will you ensure you maintain physically fit but you will also create new friendships with your fellow senior citizens. It is important to continue to socialize and learn together, as senior isolation and loneliness can be common. By participating in a class, learning a new hobby or a new skill, you will allow yourself to make new friends.
There are various such opportunities available at our Anchorage senior living in Alaska. To help your seniors grow well and to continue their process of long-life learning, contact us, and let Baxter senior living Anchorage be your mentor.
