Abstract
The importance of my work is how to write and talk about a story of an older adult. The purpose of my work was to learn about the life of an older adult and what is necessary to reach a happy retirement. The problem I was able to perceive is that when you reach retirement age because of the fact that you cannot contribute monetarily, you feel that you are no longer useful. The methods that were used on the theories in which I could identify which structure I could use with my interviewee was very important because thanks to that I was able to elaborate the questions to do my assignment. In conclusion, in this work, I learned a structure of how to make a story of everyday life and the importance of being prepared for the age of an older adult.
The interview
I will be interviewing Mrs. Teresa Lizarde who I have known since the year 2001. I interviewed her on November 27th, 2018 at 12:00 p.m. This interview took place in her apartment in the city of Long Beach, where she lives comfortably with her daughter. Mrs. Lizarde is a very noble person who in my childhood was the one who took care of the children while the parents listened to the themes of the prayer group. She gladly received me but was a bit nervous. She asked me to sit in the living room of her house and after we talked briefly we moved to her kitchen table where, nervously, she touched her shoulders. This is where I asked Mrs. Lizarde where she was born. She crossed her arms and replied: “I was born in a ranch called San Rafael in Jalisco, Mexico. I lived in a house that my dad bought that I really liked. I thought it was the nicest house around. It had trees that surrounded the outside and I felt happy because I lived with my family and cousins who lived around with my brothers”. The interview paused because the wind opened the door and she stood up to close it. After she sat down I continued to ask her where she had studied, with a calm look on my face. She answered: “I studied in a school in Mexico in the state of Jalisco. I thought it was a very beautiful school I remember my teachers and my classmates. I really liked the reading class, natural sciences, and history. I remember I had a teacher who was very tough on the students and a teacher that had more patience with everyone”. She answered by staring at a medium point on the table. At the same time that she spoke, she moved her hands across her body to confirm her answers.
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I continued and asked what her fondest memory from adolescence was. She replied: “When I would go out and play with my friends in the street it was what I liked the most. I enjoyed playing volleyball with my friends. I did not have many friends, but I felt happy with the ones I had because I would go out to different events with them”. She sometimes repeated the answer and it gave her a hard time expressing the answer to the question. But I continued by smiling and asking her if she was very young when she got married. She paused for a moment and replied: “Yes, I was only twenty years old and I felt very young. He was my third boyfriend and we were in a relationship for one year before getting married. We got married in a church in Mexico, in the state of Jalisco, in the month of December 1976. We had a small family party I felt a lot of sorrow and shame with his family, but I wanted to be married to him, so the rest was left aside”. The fresh air came into the room and would move the blinds. I asked Mrs. Lizarde if she had many years working and at what age she began to work. She paused for a moment to talk about the weather and she expressed worry about the lack of rain in the past years. She continued to answer, “I started working at 18 years old. First, I worked as a servant in a house and then in a store in Mexico. When I arrived in the United States I did not start working right away because my husband wanted me to take care of the children”. She paused and thought of her answer, “I started working until the year 1989 in cleaning and later in factories. I ended up retiring from factory work. In the factories, I assembled parts for water heaters and then was let go from that position. I worked in a factory where they make crazy glue but only for a short period because I began to get sick from the strong smells and I left it”. She continued, “In my last job, inspecting wires, I stayed for twenty-four years”.
When I asked her what disadvantage with the youth she thought she had she did not fully understand the question and I repeated the question. She confirmed she understood and said, “I did not study more I did not educate myself further. When I was young I was at the appropriate age to learn other jobs. Maybe because I got married very young and also in Mexico I did not have many opportunities to educate myself further. My family was low-income, so I could not continue to receive higher education. She ended her answer by stating, “If I continued to study, I would have wanted to become a teacher”. “I always wanted to be a teacher “. She crossed her arms and waited for me to ask her the next question. The next question I asked her was how the aging process has been for her if it is what she thought it would be, and if she felt that she knew what her purpose was. She thought about her answer for a moment and replied: “I do not feel a heavy burden and I take it step by step. Accepting the process does not affect me emotionally. There are people who care a lot about graying hair and wrinkles and sometimes I feel that but then I think to myself that it is part of God’s plan and I am taking the process naturally. It has not caused me frustration in any way, it is what I thought it would be. I was already experiencing it with my parents. With my parents, I began to reflect on myself. Now that I am reaching this age at this height of my life it is what I was living with my parents. At that time, I did not think much about it but now I understand more what they were going through. My mother also took everything very naturally and thanked God for everything that happened good or bad. I think my purpose was to help my children. Help them until I can and in whatever way possible. I have family who I also helped economically, morally, and in any way possible”. I paused for a moment to reflect on her response, before asking her what medical services she thought would help with her health. She was confused at first but replied: “I think with the help of Medicare it helps my health because economically I cannot pay for the medication. What I get from retirement is not enough and I need the help of those programs”.
When I asked her how she would like to actively participate in her community she smiled and continued to say, “I have not thought about it, but I enjoy talking to people and listening to what other people have to say. I would like to listen to the people around me but going to specific places and participating, that I have not thought about. I am always willing to listen to someone who needs someone to listen to them. Since I was young it happened that people came and talked to me about their problems. I always wondered why they asked me and how I can provide help to them. It is as if they had the confidence to talk to me and tell me what they were going through. Up to this day, they continue to do so and until I am unable to do so I will be willing to”. When I asked her how she felt now that she was retired, she drew a big smile on her face. She seemed pleased and demonstrated much happiness having finished her time in the workforce and replied, “I feel happy because I do not work anymore. I do not have to wake up early but at the same time, I feel bad because it is my daughter who has to go to work now. I am happy that I reached my retirement age. When I was working and would come home tired all I wanted was to reach the age when I no longer had to work. Now that I have reached this age I feel happy, and I feel satisfaction because I have helped. When people ask me if I still work I feel sad to say that I don’t because I feel bad about it”. Furthermore, near the end of the interview, I asked her if she had any health problems and if the medication she takes helps with those illnesses. She answered yes but further replied: “I have osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and high cholesterol. The medication does help me and also walking as exercise is very helpful. For osteoporosis, I have taken medication for more than ten years and currently, I am not taking it because the doctor told me to suspend use since I have taken it for long enough. Now I am taking calcium and medication for cholesterol”. Additionally, I asked her if it was easy for her to transport her groceries. She signaled with her hands that the store was near and said, “My daughter helps me transport my groceries, or I use the bus. The store is not that far so I found a way to bring my food walking”. Finally, we reached the end of the interview and I asked her a final question and that was if she felt comfortable in the neighborhood she lived in. She told me it was her pleasure being part of the interview and replied: “I feel good in this place because it is quiet, and it is bigger than the place where we lived before. My neighbors are nice and do not bother me much. I like the calmness of this neighborhood and the panorama at night. I also like that I can go for walks around this neighborhood”. Smiling and calm we ended the interview.
Application of theory
I am using the disengagement theory to analyze my interviewee, Mrs. Lizarde. Moody and Sasser (2017) explain that “this theory looks at old age as a time when both the older person and society engage in a mutual separation, as in the case of retirement from work” (p. 10). Mrs. Lizarde no longer socializes with people who she used to interact with before retiring. She no longer carries her work routine like she carried when she would go to her place of employment. At the time of the interview, Mrs. Lizarde was in a relaxed atmosphere and mentioned how happy she was because she no longer had to work. She has the ability to listen to the people around her whenever they are in need of someone to listen to them. The people that are around her have the confidence to talk to her and ask for her advice. It is a capability because not everyone has the ability to listen to others. This theory of disengagement is said to be natural. During my interview with Mrs. Lizarde, she kept mentioning that she was taking the process of aging naturally just like her mother did when she was younger. According to Moody & Sasser (2017), “the process of disengagement is said to be functional, serving both society and the individual” (p. 11). I agree with this because as is the case with my interviewee now that she is retired things are different, she can take care of herself, and can attend her doctor’s appointments. She can now occupy herself with an activity, she can learn different crafts, weaving a blanket, for example. She can do things that are not physically hard on her and it is still functional because it is still a source of work for others, for example, all the people in the doctor’s office have employment because she is able to attend those appointments.
Disengagement theory is related to modernization theory which said that the status of older adults must decline as society became more modern, so this makes it natural for older adults to disengage. It is proposed that as people age, they have a withdrawal from interactions and relationships to various systems (“Disengagement Theory of Aging explained”, 2017). Many older adults do not know how to use the latest technology and it is harder for them to learn how to use it. For example, the vision of an older adult begins to fail and the older adult needs to use phones with larger numbers. My interviewee cannot use a modern phone because she has a hard time using one. She has the ability to learn how to use the phone but will forget after continued use. Due to her line of work, her eyesight became very poor and the light damages her eyes, for that reason, she cannot use modern technology. Additionally, the education that she has is minimal and it would take her a lot of work to learn how to use new technology. Many older adults disengage from using modern technology and are more careful where they spend their money. Mrs. Lizarde has withdrawn from one set of activities, such as from the workplace, but she has done it to spend more time on other activities, such as spending time with her daughter. Moody and Sasser (2017) explain, “Most people adapt to optimize whatever resources they still have. Most people don’t simply disengage altogether from meaningful activities” (p.32). According to the continuity theory, older adults engage in familiar activities and maintain stable activity patterns. Diggs (2008) mentions, “the continuity theory of aging states that in making adaptive choices middle-aged and older adults attempt to preserve and maintain existing psychological and social patterns by applying familiar knowledge, skills, and strategies” (para. 1). Moreover, the activity theory and continuity theory were both used to analyze my interviewee for this interview. Moody & Sasser (2017) explain that “continued exercise, social engagement, and productive roles all seem to contribute to mental health and life satisfaction” (p. 12). My interviewee follows a pattern of activity similar to what is stated by the activity and continuity theory. Every day she goes to mass and is a very religious person. Mrs. Lizarde enjoys walking every day of the week to a nearby park for her exercise routine. She is also in charge of bringing home the groceries for her household and running certain errands. She enjoys cooking for her family every day and visits a family member who is part of the oldest old age group. Finally, part of her routine is to call and talk to her sisters twice a week.
Reflection
First of all, thanks to this task I was able to talk to the person who took care of me as a child while my parents attended prayer groups. It was very nice to get in touch with her after so long. Also, for me, it was very nice to see her willingness to collaborate with me and learn about how she is feeling now that she is not working. Although she is not working for a company she continues to work for herself at home and following a daily routine. This assignment especially teaches me in practice what I learned in the book, for example, the importance of having empathy with older adults and how important it is to have medical insurance. Furthermore, I learned the importance of having a savings plan for after retirement and making a plan for after death. I mention this because although my interviewee did not say it directly when she talked about one of her trips I understood that she had saved for her retirement since her trips have been long and expensive.
In the interview process, I would have liked to ask different questions and ask about many different topics but I understand that the focus of this assignment is on the topics of the book. This writing process taught me how to write a story by looking for a theory, looking for questions to ask during the interview, and also translating from Spanish to English. I had to write in such a way that the people who read this story can imagine the situation and the place where we are conducting the interview. Overall, I was taught to have sensitivity when I write and ask detailed questions.
References
- Diggs, J. (2008). The Continuity Theory of Aging. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-0-387-33754-8_103
- Disengagement Theory of Aging Explained. (2017, May 11). Retrieved from https://healthresearchfunding.org/disengagement-theory-of-aging-explained/
- Moody, H.R., & Sasser, J.R. (2017). Perspectives on Gerontology.
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