What activity do you refuse to give up? How do you adapt to age?

Posted by Sue, Volunteer Mentor @sueinmn, May 23, 2025

I spent the afternoon in my favorite place - my yard and garden. I have gardened since the age of 9, had my own gardens for 54 years, been a Master Gardener volunteer for over 20 years and in two very different climates. I'm not "old" at 74 but I have a lot challenges with arthritis, bad shoulders, bad lungs, occasional vertigo...

While "removing winter" and preparing for the new season, I thought a lot about how to simplify 8 very different garden beds so I can manage them going forward.

Here are my ideas so far:
Simplify:
Replace annuals with tough perennials and attractive ground covers. Replace aggressive perennials with low-care shrubs.
Replace high-maintenance plants like roses with natives and other easy-care plants.
Use natural mulch and ground covers to keep weeds down, instead of wood chips that need to be replaced often.
Adapt:
Use mulch, Preen and ground cover to reduce weeds.
Hire help for the heavy work, and for intense seasonal tasks like "putting the gardens to bed." Even once or twice a year is a big help.
Put heavy patio pots on wheels for ease in moving.
Reduce:
Smaller gardens. A few vegetables in pots instead of a big garden (after all, you can get produce to can or freeze at the local Farmers' Market and support small businesses.)
Shrubs, decorations and landscape rocks in place of dozens or hundreds of plants.
Plant an "esy care" lawn rich in native clover or other ground cover and tough low-need, low-growing grasses.
Automate:
Irrigate with drip lines set on timers, or and irrigation system. The initial investment pays off over time.

What is your favorite activity, and how can you adapt as you go forward?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Aging Well Support Group.

jennifer28 | @jennifer28 | May 29, 2025

At 76 am not giving up a number of activities - some are for time alone which I enjoy, some involve others !I garden (mostly vegetables), exercise almost every morning, am a volunteer on the executive of 2 environmental organizations, attend lectures, presentations, plays and art shows etc fairly regularly and am daily visited by 2 young grandchildren 7 & 3 - which definitely keeps me moving!

qaaz | @qaaz | Jun 10, 2025

In reply to @SusanEllen66 "Previously I wrote about being silly. Here is an example of my imagination." + (show)

I love those. I don't have that kind of talent. However, I do find when I dabble with pencil sketching I find it to be a very relaxing. Even if you don't have talent it's a wonderful way to take your mind away.

SusanEllen66 Susan McMichael | @SusanEllen66 | Jun 10, 2025

In reply to @qaaz "I love those. I don't have that kind of talent. However, I do find when I..." + (show)

@qaaz I don’t have “talent”. I have a love of color.
I started “slapping” cheap paint on equally cheap canvas I buy from Amazon.
I started in 2020 on a whim. Now, I paint almost everyday. Every once in while a project is worth keeping. Most get reworked and thrown away.

It’s my relaxing time.
.

judybradford | @judybradford | Jun 12, 2025

I refuse to give up dancing. I have danced my entire life, from moving in front of my parents' bedroom mirror to music, to taking ballet and modern dance starting around age 17. Now, I arrive early at the gym for my classes and dance for about 45 minutes before other fitness classmates get there. I dance from the inside out, to explore my feelings and how those feelings translate into movement. Yes, I have a dance vocabulary learned from years of formal classes. But now I dance for myself. I am really not interested in performing any more. Dance got me through Covid (moving in my living room). Dance got me through the death of my sister, at age 69, in 2020. Dance has seen me through so many tough times. Even when I cannot move very well, I will still dance from my heart.

scottbeammeup | @scottbeammeup | Jun 12, 2025

Biking. When I was undergoing cancer treatment I bought an e-bike with 5 levels of pedal assist: none, 10%, 25%. 50% and full. It was my “emergency plan” if I got hit with a bout of fatigue and eased the worry that if I rode too far I’d be too tired to bike home. I normally ride 20-30 miles so while in treatment I would do 10 miles with no assist, then switch to 10%. Only needed higher assist a couple times.