Manage the Impact of Aging

One of my favourite ways to while away hours is in a bookstore and I recently whiled away in The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle. I worked my way from magazines (snagging two back to back issues of The Economist), through new releases, the business section, to discounted, used and children’s books. Cooking and home reno warranted some time, as did fiction, politics and writing. Psychology, education and family are staple topics for me. I was startled and pleased by how the section on aging has grown — and gratified to see many more books about managing aging alongside the ones offering ways to avoid aging.

Through my sessions, I have learned that talking about older people’s driving typically gets a rapid-zinger reaction. In Elliot Bay, I  found a great book for my resource library: The Driving Dilemma, by Elizabeth Dugan. Though the legal and licensing regulations are American, the balance of the chapters covers physical, medical and emotional aspects of driving. Chapters 6 (Learning to Talk About Change) and 7 (Get Talking) tackle communication dilemmas, and the suggestions can work for zingers other than driving.