Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
The Healthy Wealthy and Wise Podcast, with Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD is a monthly podcast that focuses on personal growth and development by exploring a range of topics related to mental and physical health, personal wealth, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Choctaw draws on his 75yrs experience and 50 plus years of surgical practice since graduating from Yale University School of Medicine.
Each month, we strive to provide our listeners with mental, physical, and spiritual strength by giving actionable advice, tips, guidance, and information to help them achieve their own personal, professional, and spiritual goals. We consider the health of the mind, body, and spirit paramount as a single unit that provides a cumulative strength greater than the individual parts, to strengthen the whole person.
We appreciate the natural differences in need between men, women, adults, and children. We recognize that the power to be happy is within each of us and under our control. We embrace technology and identify how it is applicable to our daily success. We address the entire human experiences from generation z to the baby boomers.
We’re passionate about the total person, and helping our listeners build and lead a full, well-rounded and happy life. So, tune in every month for an inspiring, encouraging, and informative podcast!
Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
Decoding the Golden Years: Navigating Aging, Forgetfulness, and Health Concerns with Clarity and Wisdom
Are you aware of the fact that forgetfulness can be a natural part of aging and not just an early sign of dementia? Tune in to our latest episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast, where we crack open the reality of aging, shedding light on the normalcy of forgetfulness, distinguishing it from dementia, and addressing the complexities of memory, thinking, and social abilities. We guide you through eight types of normal aging and suggest practical tips for adjusting to this natural process.
How are you preparing for your golden years? Without a doubt, aging comes with both physical and emotional changes, but knowing how to navigate them can make the process smoother. We delve into the most common health concerns related to aging, including the signs of growing older, the impact of energy reserves, cognition, sight, and hearing changes, and how to manage multiple medications. We also talk about the importance of advanced directives for individuals 60 and over, providing direction in advance of death to avoid confusion and frustration in the hospital.
Stay with us till the end as we discuss how to keep up with the latest information related to health, wealth, and wisdom. We'll also let you in on how to leave reviews, share, and support the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast. Before we wrap up, we take a moment to encourage our listeners to be the change they want to see in the world. Regardless of the challenges that may come with aging, remember that these golden years can be filled with healthy living, financial stability, and wisdom.
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The Host, Dr. William Choctaw; MD, JD, is a healthcare leadership expert, possessing a Medical Doctorate from the Yale University School of Medicine, and a Jurist Doctorate from Western University. Over a span of 50 years practicing medicine, he has served as Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and as a member of the medical executive committee at Citrus Valley Medical Center over a 10 year period. Also, while practicing at Citrus Valley Medical Center, he served as Chief Transformation Officer, (developed a Robust Process Improvement/Lean Six Sigma program). Dr. Choctaw lectures nationally and internationally on medical leadership issues for hospital staffs, executives, and managers. He served as a Physician Surveyor on the Joint Commission. He's the author of 2 books, "Medical Malpractice: A Physician's Guide to the Law" and "Transforming the Patient Experience: A New Paradigm for Hospital and Physician Leadership, published by the Springer Publishing Co. He’s the President of Choctaw Medical Group, Inc., a clinical practice and medical legal consulting firm for medical staff executives, physician leaders, and hospitals.
Welcome to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William T Choctaw, mdjd, where the doctor helps you unlock your full potential by equipping you with tools and knowledge in the areas of health, wealth and wisdom anchored in his experience as a business executive, a physician surveyor for the Joint Commission, a former mayor and over 50 years of experience as a general surgeon. You've got questions, he's got answers, so let's get started. Here's Dr William T Choctaw, mdjd.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir. Good morning, welcome to the Leadership Masterclass. Today we're going to talk about honest aging helping others in the second half of life. Honest aging helping others in the second half of life we all many times. Well, we're all on this journey called aging and, depending on where you are, it will really affect what your perspective is. What I'm going to try to do is to put it in perspective from a medical point of view and also make some suggestions in terms of what works and what doesn't work. So first, as always, we like to go to our beliefs, and the reason why we always talk about our beliefs is that our beliefs basically outline the why of this masterclass. Why are we doing this? Why is this important? Why do we think it should be done? And it's based on, among other things, these three beliefs.
Speaker 2:I believe life is about being of service to others. Our purpose is to make a contribution to other people. I believe knowledge is power. We can complain about things that we like or that we don't like, or talk about things we don't like, but if we expand our knowledge base, we can then do something, we can act, we can be a participant instead of an observant. And, finally, I believe leaders can change the world. Again, if you don't like the way welcome to Pastor Revis If you don't like the way the world is, change it. Change it. And the way you do that is by having a purpose and by having knowledge and by having a commitment.
Speaker 2:And so, as I said, today we're going to talk about aging honest aging. As always, we like to put out an outline, and the purpose of the outline is to pull what is, to let you know what we're going to talk about and, as importantly, to let you know when we're just about done. We're going to talk about aging and we're going to try to define it for you. What does aging mean, and what is young and what is old, and it'll be interesting to see how that works. We'll then go to eight types of normal, honest aging and what that actually means. We'll define that for you. We'll review not eight or nine types of things one can do to adjust to the aging process, and we'll conclude with some discussion about some end of life issues and some things that we need to look at as a part of this aging process.
Speaker 2:As we've said before, this is part of our masterclass leadership, and you may say well, what is, what is a masterclass? Leadership is basically information for leaders, everyone who's listening, everyone who's physically here. You already leaders. This is to give you additional information as part of your leadership process, and leadership occurs in different areas and in different using different methodologies. And, as always, what I like to say, since it's a class and you're the students, you always have homework, and your homework is basically oh yeah, it doesn't change. No, you can't be excused. Work is like as always, then, and what we do is that everybody has what we call a cell phone. A cell phone, and it doesn't matter which kind you have the fancy kind of the non fancy kind, but every cell phone is smartphone, is what we call an academic hand computer. So anything that I say that doesn't make sense. Or if you want to get additional information, part of your homework is to research online, google or whatever search engine you like to use, but feel free to do that and we encourage you to do that. Going forward. So, aging definition.
Speaker 2:Now, let me start off by apologizing to all of you who are 60 years of age. Okay, I am not saying that if you're 60 years of age, you are old. I am not saying that. What I am saying is that, when we look at the whole spectrum of aging, that we have to have some place to start to say well, if you start here and above, you're in the aging category more aging, more advanced aging, as compared to 60 or below. I recognize a lot of you young, 60 years old are going crazy right now. Please, I apologize to you and this is in no way any suggestion that you're older than you think you are Right, because you're as old as you think you are. What I am saying is that, for the purposes of our discussion today, we're looking at 60 above and 60 below. That's all I'm saying. And also, as we talk about this and we talk about symptoms of aging, those symptoms are going to be more pronounced 75 years of age and above. So this is only for a point of reference. And again, you young 60 years I apologize Because you do know that they're young 60 years old and old 60 year olds, and we'll talk about that a bit more later. I do want to give a shout out to Dr Leipzig. Dr Leipzig is a gerontologist, she's a geriatric specialist and she wrote a book called Honest Aging, and I would encourage you if you have some free time and you want to look more into the subject, feel free to check out Dr Leipzig's book. She's a vice chair of the department of geriatrics in Mount Sonai in New York.
Speaker 2:We know a lot in medicine about family practice and OBGYN and surgery pediatrics. You don't hear a lot of physicians talk about geriatrics. Geriatrics is the opposite of pediatrics. Pediatrics deals with the children, geriatrics deals with those, forgive me, 60 years of age and older. And so what we're going to do? We're going to concentrate today on geriatrics Because, again, knowledge is power and we want you to be as engaged and as knowledgeable about geriatrics as you are about pediatrics. And we have three purposes today, three points we want to make, particularly as it deals with honest aging. We want to overcome the negatives about aging.
Speaker 2:Now, obviously, positive and negative is a choice. It's a choice and depends on who you are and what you're going through. I get all that, but a lot of times I think and this is more of a society type thing this is a cultural thing that we tend to think well, if you're over 60, as compared to being under 60, you're probably over the hill. You know, you probably pass. There's a huge discussion going on in the media about if you're 80 years old, should you be president? Should you run for president again? Is that too much for an 80 year old person? You know you can follow on either side of that. I'm going to suggest to you just like all 60 years and I created equal, all 80 years are not created equal. So just sort of keep that in mind. So I guess what I'm trying to say is let's have an open mind about it and be less judgmental, because many times we're wrong, many times we're wrong.
Speaker 2:And so part of this herenthetically, as with all of our discussions is to move from negative to positive. One, because when you're stuck in negative or negative area, you can't get anything done, you're sort of paralyzed. And two, it makes you feel bad. And three, it tends to get worse over time. So we're going to start working on moving from negative to positive. Number two, in terms of honest aging, is to help others adapt to the new normal of aging. Part of growth and knowledge is you learn new things and you understand new things, and part of that is improvement and getting better. And the third part is have an engage in joable and meaningful life. Our goal, as always, is to encourage you to live long and thrive.
Speaker 2:So what are some of the things that we know about aging? And my definition of aging is getting older. Now, we all get older, whether you're two years old or 80 years old, so we're talking about challenges defining healthy aging. Aging gradually alters people over decades, so whether we like it or not, aging is associated with change. If you doubt that, then I would encourage you to go to your bedroom and you go into your dresser and you pull out that box with all those pictures you know back when you went high school or college or early when your kids were babies, and look at those pictures and then look in the mirror and you'll see that there have been some changes over those decades. Not like us, right or wrong, it is what it is okay.
Speaker 2:Second, a long period is shaped by individuals, economic and social circumstances, behaviors and neighborhoods. The reason why all 60-year-olds are not created equal all 70-year-olds, 80-year-olds are not created equal is that our aging process is a total of what's happening, what's happened to us before. Example, if you, at age 20, were in an auto accident and you broke your leg and now you have a limp, well, when you become 70, that limp may become more pronounced, or you may have more problems with that leg that you broke back then or that hip that you broke back then. That we're all a product of what happened to us before. If you, unfortunately, were an alcoholic in your 20s, when you're 60, you may have some liver problems now that you would not have had that problem. Some of them may just very well be genetic. May not be anything that has to do with behavior, but just your genes. So my point is that all of us, that where we are is a result of what's happened, of what we've experienced beforehand, and so just keep that in mind.
Speaker 2:A long period is shaped by individuals, economic and social circumstances, as I mentioned, and this includes economics also. Did you have you had a rough life or a non-rubbed life? Our older psychological issues later in life don't follow a well-chartered, predetermined path. One of the most distressing parts of this is those of us who feel like that. We know how 60-year-olds are supposed to act and how 70-year-olds are supposed to act.
Speaker 2:I hear stories about adult children complaining about their parents and they'll say something like well, well, you know, my mom still thinks she's in her 20s. You know, she wants to go out and go to dinner every week or go to this place or go to that place. I keep telling her mom you can't do that anymore. Well, who are you to tell mom what she can't do? Right, because all 70-year-olds are not created equal. They're not. I'm not saying that's right or wrong. I'm just saying it is what it is and that I have no right to judge somebody else. If they can run a marathon at 70 or 60, you know, and I can't. God bless them, right? So keep that in mind. So it's very important.
Speaker 2:As we move forward with things so predictable aging changes can occur and, as we've been saying before, it's not all equal at the same age and prior things that have happened to us many times affect things that happen later on. We are individually different, not only just because of our genes but just because of our experiences. I many times have said I live in the state of California now and that I grew up in Nashville Tennessee and, had I stayed in Nashville Tennessee, how my life or my concept or perception of the world would have been different had I not moved to California. Not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying it would have been different because I've gone back to visit actually to lecture one of the conferences in Nashville and I was immediately struck by how different it was, not just the environment, just in terms of the people and what they talked about and how they felt and that sort of thing. And I submit to you that as you travel, you've seen the same thing. And so my point is it does matter where you are and it does matter who you around and whether you run with a positive crowd or a negative crowd. It does make a difference and it does affect our body, mind and spirit.
Speaker 2:Now, if there's any issue that comes up that has to do with aging, any issue, it has to do with forgetfulness, forgetfulness. We make jokes about it. Oh, I must be getting old because I'm losing my mind. I'm blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So let's look at this from a medical point of view. Leave aside all the other stuff, let's go to the science. Okay, one of the things that the science tells us is that forgetfulness is normal. Let me say that again Forgetfulness is normal.
Speaker 2:If you forget something, it does not mean that you are old and you've got dementia and things are bad and all that sort of thing. It is normal for us to forget over time. Is that something that increases over time? Probably it is not a disease. It is not an illness. It is not something that requires medication. I don't care what they say about those supplements on TV that you watch, you'll think like a 20-year-old, I don't care about that, it is normal. It is not an injury. It is not a disease. Don't stress about it, because the stress just makes it worse. Right, because if you forget your keys, you said oh my God, I forgot my keys twice this month. What does that mean? What does that mean? Do I need to see my doctor? No, that's normal.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about what's normal. Losing things often is normal. Forgetting to go to an important event or an appointment is normal. If you don't write it down or put it on your calendar, or put it on your phone or your watch, or however you do it, you're going to forget. Sometimes. Over time, that forgetfulness will increase. It is not a disease. It is not an injury. It is not something that requires a medication. I personally don't think all those other things work, but I'll leave that up to you. I recommend that you follow up with your healthcare provider individually and get his or her opinion about that. Having more trouble coming up with certain words when you're talking than you used to, that's all normal over time. Do not stress about that. Trust me, there's enough in life to stress about. You do not want to stress about things that you do not have to stress about. Forgetfulness is normal. It is not a disease. Forgetfulness is not dementia.
Speaker 2:You've heard the term dementia, which has to do with a type of forgetfulness that affects the brain. Normal forgetfulness is not dementia. What is dementia? What does that really mean? When we say dementia, we're talking about a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking and social abilities three elements to that definition. Memory thinking, which is cognition. Thinking would be like I need to go to the store but I'm not sure how to get there. I've always gone to the store, but now I don't remember how to get there. I have to think harder about how to get there. That occurs over time, but that's just one of the three elements. That alone is not necessarily dementia. Then, social abilities. Social abilities means that I used to be able to work well with the people at my job, but now I fuss and fight with them every single day. I don't know what's wrong with them because I'm perfect. It can't be me. There's something wrong with them, but it's just something that I notice. My point is you put all those three together and that's what dementia is.
Speaker 2:Dementia can be mild, moderate to severe. The definition of severe dementia is Alzheimer's. We've talked about it before. Alzheimer's is an absolute disease of the brain which progressively gets worse and worse and worse over time. To my knowledge, there's no definite cure. You can improve the symptoms, but it gets worse and worse over time.
Speaker 2:Let's be more specific. What are eight signs of getting older? Things that you should be aware of to make sure that, as we all age, that we can do it more effectively and in a more controlling way. Older people present with different symptoms than younger people when they become ill. This makes sense. This is why, when COVID hit and they were saying if you are x, y's the age, please get the vaccine. If you're under a certain age, you can wait till you get the vaccine, but if you're at this age, you want to be the first in line to get the vaccine. Why is that? Because those of us who are post-60, our bodies don't deal with stuff as well as before 60. Just common sense Something. Keep in mind. Number two older individuals often react differently to medication than young individuals. Big deal.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if you are 60 plus years of age, you're already on three to five to seven medications right now. Three to five to seven medications right now Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, on and on and on and on. I can tick those off. It does not mean that you are in bad shape or good shape, but these are certain things that occur as we age. Some of it is genetics, some of it may be behavioral, some of it may be a combination. On and on, and on and on and on. That's important because when you go to a doctor and you go in and you tell her what your problem is and she says, okay, I want you to take these two medications, you want to make sure that she already knows what medications you're on. So one of the first things you want to do, or if you're accompanying somebody to the doctor, says, my father or my mother is on these medications, but you don't make a list of them. I want to make sure that the medication you give them will not interfere with these other medications.
Speaker 2:You would be amazed at the number of patients who end up in the hospitals because of any reactions with medications. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. Most patients don't recognize that. They just say well, dr Collins gave me this three years ago. I didn't take all of it, so I still have some of it. Also, when I feel like my blood pressure is up, I just go and take one. No, don't do that. Number one is probably expired, so it's not helping you. Number two it may very well interfere with all these other types of medicines you want, and there's no way you would know that.
Speaker 2:I don't know all of that, but I can tell you the medications change every year. They're always advancing in changing this and changing that. Good physicians and good health care systems will tell you. They'll say something like well, you know you're on blah blah blah where you have blood pressure, but you know there's a new medication out that does not affect your kidney the way the old medication did, so I'm going to switch and put you on this new medication, right, and all you have to do is say thank you, doctor, appreciate it, ok. So my point is medications are more of a problem as we get older than when we're less than six years of age.
Speaker 2:Another problem forgetting to take it. Getting to take it. Let's use high blood pressure. It's easy to forget to take medication, especially if you're on three to five to 10 different types of medication, right, so sometimes you may have to write it down. I've seen these little fancy pill things that have Monday, tuesday, wednesday, which I think are really cool. Whatever you need to do, do. That is my point. That medication is a big deal and you don't want to unnecessary create medical problems that you didn't have to have.
Speaker 2:Old individuals tend to energy reserves as you get older. Most people I'm going to say everybody but as you get older you may not feel as energetic about doing stuff the way you used to. Nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, it is important to exercise. Now that may seem like a contradiction in terms. What I'm saying is you can recognize you may have reduced energy, but you may. You may want to exercise even more because it's harder for you to get to that point. So keep that in mind.
Speaker 2:Cognition slows. What does cognition mean? Thinking? Thinking slows. Maybe you could work out that calculus problem in five seconds or five minutes before. It may take you an hour now or half a day, and that's OK, is my point. That's OK, it's OK.
Speaker 2:Recognize where you are and adapt. Let me say that again Recognize where you are and adapt. Don't whine and complain about it, don't worry about it. You can't change it. All you do is now stress in yourself. Now you're making it worse. Recognize where you are, adapt and move on.
Speaker 2:Musculoskeletal system is less flexible, you know this. You run up and down the steps or you blah, blah, blah, blah, but you don't move quite as fast now as you used to. You go into a hotel or to a conference and you have to hold on to that railing as you go down those stairs because you want to slip and twist an ankle or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That happens post 60., the more, more, more Our sight and hearing change.
Speaker 2:Now our sight is obvious. We can all tell. You know, do I need to wear glasses or contacts or whatever? But hearing is more subtle. Hearing is more subtle, hearing the person, but just talk louder. Why are you whispering? What is your problem? We've been married. How long. When did you start whispering all of a sudden?
Speaker 2:So my point, very simply, is the hearing thing may not be as obvious and so it's probably a good idea when you go see your regular physician, your family doctor, your primary care PCP, say you know, doctor, I think I'd like to have my hearing checked. It's not a big deal, you can have it checked. It's not a big deal because as we get older, the hairs inside of our ear, there are hairs inside about you and I'm talking about deep inside now, not the ones you see, Talking about deep inside they are very important in controlling balance. Balance. You know so when we're moving and we don't feel quite steady or whatever that may be, that those cells are beginning to age a bit and so a number of individuals may need to wear hearing aids, right. So when you put on the hearing aid, you'll see that your spouse is just speaking the same way. She's always been speaking. Oh, he's always been speaking. It's not their fault, it's my point Also. Keep in mind that. Let me go back to the balance. Hairs are a big deal and people over 60. Big, big deal.
Speaker 2:Many people who end up with head injuries, coma fractures, hip injuries, very, very common in post-60 individuals. You know I as a general surgeon, just talking about orthopedic colleagues number of hip replacements, leg replacements, this and that why? Because there's wear and tear over time. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong. There's wear and tear over time and so those things will occur and finally, sleep becomes fragmented.
Speaker 2:We talk a lot when we talk about healthy living, about the importance of getting sleep. That becomes more challenging in the post-60 group as compared to the pre-60 group, but it is more important. And when I say sleep, I'm not talking about light sleep, I'm talking about dreaming sleep, or what I call deep sleep, or professionally they call it reap sleep, rapid eye movement sleep. That's the sleep where you dream. So if you're dreaming, you're good, you're good. If you're not dreaming, you need to go back to sleep again. Go back again, try it again, okay, why? Because you know again, the body is just fantastic. When we sleep, the brain is cleaning up all that stuff that happened in the previous 24 hour. Now we don't understand what all that stuff is, but it's important, and so my point is if the brain is not able to clean all that stuff up and it starts to accumulate, then it doesn't work well for us. You know when we're awake. So there's a good reason for all that.
Speaker 2:So what are some of the tips in terms of aging. Again, when you go to the doctor's office, ask about the medication that you're on and whether you're taking the right dosage, and blah, blah, blah, especially if you see a different doctor. If you accompany individuals to the doctor's office, you be the agent to ask that question. Take a list. If you possibly can Be physically active we talk about that all the time Make sure you eat well, particularly protein, because you need that for muscle mass.
Speaker 2:Muscle mass tends to decrease over time and everything is connected, so you want that muscle mass to stabilize as much as possible over time. Drink plenty of liquids and you don't have to be thirsty to drink, just drink anyway. You know it used to be what six or eight glasses of water or liquids per day but drink anyway. Do balance and resistive exercises. Have your eyes checked every year, which is obvious. Wear hearing aids if you need to. Do not exercise. Drink alcohol. Eat heaven meals two to three hours before bedtime, because a lot of times if you do that, it may very well prevent you from getting a good night's sleep.
Speaker 2:We're all living longer and that's a good thing. That, indeed, is a blessing. But with that comes certain responsibilities, in that we have to take care of ourselves differently to be more effective. The good news is that, according to the CDC, the average combined life expectancy in the United States is about 79 years of age. Notice, I said combined life expectancy. That means men and women. If you separate the two out, men drop All right. Men drop down about 70, 71. Women go up, that's about 80 something. So you notice I presented it as combined. All right, you're welcome.
Speaker 2:What's interesting about this, though, is that we in the United States do not, on average, do not live as long as individuals in other well-developed industrialized countries like Europe, sweden, the Netherlands, on and on and on, and the belief is that we're more stressed than they are. We work more hours than they do. They vacation two or three months per year, sometimes, seriously, they do. South Southern Europe, south of France, you know they look at Americans and say what are you guys doing? You know you vacation one week or two weeks and you feel guilty. Then you say, oh, I got a good background. We take two phones with us on vacation and we're constantly checking them. That's not a vacation, right, and you know it's a culture, it's a style. But my point is and whether right or wrongly, relaxation or stress management is beneficial in terms of longevity.
Speaker 2:Going back to my friendly 60-year-olds usually when one is 60 and above, we start asking questions why do I have a pot belly? Well, because you need to diet and exercise more. Can I improve my sleep? Yes, but, as we mentioned, don't exercise right before sleep many times, because that may keep you awake. I'm having trouble remembering names. Is that dimension? No, we just mentioned about that. Do I really need that colonoscopy or mammogram? Yes, you do at 60. What should I do to get back in the shape? Diet and exercise? Do I really need to stop driving? I don't know. It depends, it depends. I would suggest that you speak to your healthcare provider, have an honest conversation in terms of what you need and what you don't need. To my knowledge, in the state of California, there is no age limit. As long as you pass the test, you can continue to drive. It may vary in other states, but it's just something to keep in mind.
Speaker 2:Happy aging is a blessing is what I'm trying to say. That's really the bottom line here. It's a blessing, so that's not why I'm complaining about it. I remember a certain person at the church back in January. So when I gave one of these talks and they said Dr Choctaw is getting old. True, but Dr Choctaw is getting old happily. He is aging happily. That is what I want to pass on. There's nothing wrong with getting old, as long as you do it happily. It is a blessing.
Speaker 2:One of the things that helps us with honest aging is always work on our belief system, and we mentioned many months ago about how our beliefs affect how we think. How we think affect how we feel, how we feel, affects how we act. So a lot of times, if you're not acting right, do you think or feeling right? Go back to your belief system and many times we can change those things because they're our belief systems. We created them and we can certainly change them. Another thing knowledge is power.
Speaker 2:Take a course You've got that handheld computer called Cellphone, a smartphone. Listen to a podcast. There are all sorts of different topics that you can learn. You can go back to college on your cell phone. All the colleges now, certainly the major ones, have online training, online courses, summer free, summer free. So take up a new task or a hobby, a join a group, et cetera, et cetera. Join a mission at church, volunteer at the food bank there are all sorts of things that you can do.
Speaker 2:So and just remember, whether you're happy or sad it really depends on you, it's your perspective, and I would recommend be happy, because happiness is therapeutic and it's important to move forward mentally, physically and spiritually. And also remember, even if you are above or below 60, we're all caregivers, and what do I mean by that? It is important that we care for each other and, whether that person is six years old or 65 years of age, be respectful, be nice, don't say nasty stuff, don't say bad stuff about other people. Just think well of other folks, and I think that sort of helps them and us to grow and to age more healthily and happily. I want to say one final word about advanced directives.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on this, but this is an area that we talk about the end of life stages, individuals in the hospital who are elderly and or have a very serious and or chronic illness, and one of the things that we have learned, that two things we've learned. One is that a lot of people, or many people, certainly during COVID, maybe even post COVID, passing on, it appears to me many times faster than I've noticed before. Maybe that's just me. Second thing is, oftentimes in that place, in that process individuals in the hospital there's a lot of confusion and frustration and anger and bad stuff that goes on in those last few days. And one of the ways to avoid that is for those of us who are 60 plus years of age is to have advanced directives.
Speaker 2:Advanced directives is basically a document that says what you want or what you don't want, for instance and you can write it up yourself, don't have to be fancy that says if I stopped breathing in the hospital, do not hook me up to a machine. Or if my heart stops, do not do CPR and bring me heart. Or if you do it, do it five times but don't do it six times, or whatever. But it's your advanced directive, that's the point. And so advanced directors means given direction in advance, in advance of your death, in advance of that, and that can be expanded to include everything. I'm just talking about healthcare. But you can include your will in that, you can include financial things in that, what you want and what you don't want. As a part of your advanced directive. You can appoint an agent. You can say, okay, if I get sick or if I get hit by a car and I come in and I'm comatose or whatever and blah, blah, blah. I want my son to be my agent or my daughter to be my agent or whatever. You can do that. So please keep that in mind that it really is important. It is another way and we haven't gotten into this a lot yet of passing on wealth. Wealth is important to pass on from generation to generation. Okay, and one of the ways to do that is to not have your assets all going to probate where they are tied up for years and years and years, but to be clear about how you want that set up before you get to the point where you can no longer communicate. Okay, and to that point, st Stephen's Church is gonna have a conference next year, first quarter next year, st Stephen's Missionary Baptist Church on advanced directives, and you'll be hear more about that. I think the nursing guild, pat Roberts and the nursing guild are gonna take part of most of the leadership with this, but you'll be hearing more about that. I would encourage you to attend this and get more information.
Speaker 2:In summary, aging is very important, but we want to do it happily and not sadly. Forgetfulness is normal. It's not dementia. We've mentioned the eight types of aging. We've mentioned different ways of adjusting to aging. Honest aging is important because I believe it helps us to be happier longer and to live longer and avoid oversimplification when we put people in categories. Again, all 60-year-olds are not created equal. All 80-year-olds are not created equal. All 40-year-olds are not created equal. So keep that in mind.
Speaker 2:In conclusion, I always like to end up on my basic principles. In my life, god is in charge. I learned that back when I was a child, actually, but my life has been the way it is because of that one single purpose, and it continues to be my purpose. That God's excuse me everything that I do. And number two, I don't have any bad days. I used to have bad days and I remembered. I figured out about 20, 30 years ago that days were good or bad if I said they were. So I got rid of all of them. I now have good days and I have great days.
Speaker 2:Number three don't sweat the small stuff. Most stuff is small, I guarantee you. I don't care what it is. Whatever you perceive that is negative and notice, I say perceive that is negative, so I'm not even getting into whether it's right or wrong, it doesn't matter, let it go. Let it go and you'll find it wasn't that big a deal anyway. Forgiveness is therapy. Whatever you perceive someone has said, a done to you that is negative, forgive them instantly, immediately. I'm not saying that I'm 100% with this or do it 100% of the time, but I'm much better now than I used to be Right. So my point is something that we wanted to, because all of this helps us to maintain a healthy, wealthy and wise lifestyle for ourselves and those around us.
Speaker 2:And finally, everything is a relationship, and relationships are based on three things mutual respect, mutual trust, good communication. If you have those three things, you have a good relationship. If you do not, you have work to do. If you like this masterclass and or the associated podcast, the podcast and masterclass are the same. They interact. The masterclass we do once a month, the podcast we do once a week. If there's information that you may have missed and you want to go back and go back over something, consider subscribing to one of the podcast, and that's to do that is wwwbusproutcom. Forward slash two, one zero. One, zero, zero three and finally be the change that you want to see in the world. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr William T Choctaw MDJD. Be sure to check out other great episodes covering areas of health, wealth and wisdom at THWPcom and, while you're there, be sure to check out the books, blogs and other literature in your preferred format, and don't forget to leave a review, subscribe, share and support the podcast that's at THWPcom. You've been listening to the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr William T Choctaw MDJD.
