As we age, illness is often part of the mix.  Working and communicating with nurses, doctors and family members is critical to aging well.   Letting people know how you are feeling is very important.   Communication is truly a key to aging successfully.

5 WAYS TO HELP OTHER UNDERSTAND- AVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES IN COMMUNICATION—

1. Trying to discount feelings or not talk about your reactions does not help.  Feelings are there, whether you want them or not.  It works best to admit and work through the emotions of illness and aging.

2. Interrogating and giving advice when no one asked for it is a common error that ends of being non-supportive.  If one has emotional or physical pain, he/she needs comfort and expressions of  compassion, not  questions or advice.

3. Deflecting or changing the subject or making jokes does not help the patient.  It feels like someone just doesn’t want to talk about a painful subject.  While this may be true, ‘kicking the can down the road’ doesn’t solve the problems at hand. If the patient wants to talk about illness, compassionate listening is a good response.

4.  Blaming someone or trying to logically explain away an illness or an aging problem is only  denying the pain.  Comfort and unconditional love while listening to the patient will help them feel better.

5. There is no point to justifying or explaining away an illness.  Explaining why a problem happened will not make it go away.  Sometimes a person just needs to have their feelings heard.  To be listened to and validated helps an aging or ill person feel cared about. Friends are very important to us as we age.

Aging is tough – and health problems are super challenging.  If we are kind and stand by each other, we  soon realize we are all in this together.  Our nurses, doctors, physical assistants, and other health professionals have our interest at heart.  Communicating and working as a team will help us win many of the struggles that we face together.