Ageing well initiatives have done wonders in empowering us to take charge of our health and invest in good habits to live better for longer.
The vigour and vitality this can bring to our ageing is welcome, but we still need to consider the whole story. Amidst the power walking, book clubs, happy hours and 'grey nomading', a small but inconvenient truth has been sidelined – unfortunately, life doesn’t go on forever.
When trawling through positive ageing magazines and websites, note the stark absence of discussions about how our bodies may deteriorate over time, and how we can best deal with frailty, dying and death.
Don’t leave your future care to chance
We need to ask ourselves - if death is inevitable, why are we failing to plan for it?
A recent study shows only 14 per cent of older Australians have a legally-binding advance care directive.
You can take more control of your own life. Advance care planning involves planning for your future health care. It enables you to make some decisions now about the health care you would or would not like to receive if you were to become seriously ill and unable to communicate your treatment preferences or make decisions.
As dementia is now the leading cause of death for women, and the second leading cause of death for men, it is even more important that we prepare in advance and have a say in our own future while we can.
Advance care planning is making a powerful statement about who we are, how we want to live and what we value most about living, right up to our last day.
Advance care planning helps to ensure your loved ones and health providers know and respect your treatment preferences – regardless of any health crisis that arises.
Our generation has lived with a powerful sense of self and autonomy, and we want to maintain our quality of life for as long as possible. This should include maintaining what is most important to us, including our relationships, dignity, and choices about how we live.
After spending a lifetime in the driver’s seat of our own destiny, we don’t want to burden our loved ones in the future with decisions about our health care.
Live well. Plan well.
Living healthy, vibrant and more connected lives well into our twilight years is the ageing experience we all hope for. But this shouldn’t get in the way of creating more certainty for our families around our future care preferences. Have the conversations that matter most today and let your family know what treatments you would and would not want. It may be one of the most liberating things we ever do - and could be the greatest gift to our loved ones.
For free, personalised advice, call the National Advance Care Planning Support Service on 1300 208 582 from 9am - 5pm (AEST) Monday to Friday.