How to Become an Active Participant in Your Life
For many older adults, feeling like they’re losing control of their lives is all too common. While this can be a normal reaction to aging, it can also leave people feeling overwhelmed when confronted with the stigma of getting older. Actively participating in your life is a powerful way to combat these feelings and stigmas, leading to a more vibrant life. So, how can you learn to become an active participant in your life? Let’s take a look.
Set Intentions
First, set goals to transition from a passive participant to an active participant in life. It can be challenging to reflect on what aspects of life might be obstructing your progress, but it’s imperative for regaining control. Your intentions and goals act as a foundation for the rest of the process for becoming active participants. So, honesty with yourself is essential.
To keep yourself motivated and engaged, write down each of your intentions and keep them in a place you will regularly see. Remember, each person’s intentions are unique to their own personal experience and goals.
Regain Control
Adjusting your thought process to become less passive can be challenging, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. By believing in yourself and your words, you regain control and take power away from negative thoughts.
Again, writing down your thoughts is an effective resource for change. Make a list of words that come to mind that diminish your power, confidence or ability. Once you have a few written down, modify the language to become active and uplifting. The next time you feel control shrinking, revisit the list and remind yourself that you have the power to enact change in any way.
Implement
It’s easier to enact change once you set intentions and understand that you can control involuntary thoughts. If wanting to go back to school is on your list, enroll in your first class. If eating more nutritious meals is your goal, start researching recipes with healthier foods. At first, taking steps to live actively may feel uncomfortable and daunting, but remember that years of passive living are being dismantled.
While being an active participant in life is the ultimate goal, it’s important to be kind to yourself on the journey. Even if your path changes, the experiences and tools you learned along the way are something of which you can be proud.
At Sage Collective, we believe actively participating in your life is an aspect of vibrant living that helps find purpose, shepherd confidence, and inspires goals for older adults. It’s never too late to become active participants in our lives.
