How to deal with aging anxiety?

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@carmine100
60% dark chocolate is perfect by itself. 72% or higher is perfect with a cup of strong coffee! I use a splash of light cream. Anything under 60% and all I taste is sugar.

@grahmilou I’m sorry about your heartbeat scare. I am 86 and (among other fun medical issues), I also have bradycardia from medication that my heart doc prescribes for atrial arrhythmia. I know the med lowers my energy levels some, but I try to keep active anyway. I admire your exercise routine! Good for you!

So with you in these thoughts. Blessed that I have no operations and hope you have managed to find help for your pain.
Its the worry and anxiety about the things you have mentioned that fills my mind, when I let it.
It seems like a full time job to dodge it, but I do believe that "change your thinking, change your life", works for any age.
These are not the "golden years" as we somehow thought they would be but we are still here for some reason and therefore must and can find a way to have some peace in our remaining journey, no matter what is going on around us.
Love and happiness is a favourite mantra of mine.

Grahmilou-
I'm glad you decided to stay with us.
Here's a picture from our community.
A squirrel got trapped and died under a cabinet in the community kitchen. Here are four of us, aged 4-77, working to dismantle the cabinet and remove the squirrel.
Two girls, 8 and 37, aren't in the picture.
Later we buried the squirrel in the animal cemetery the kids have dedicated under a big oak tree. One of the kids grieved deeply when her pet centipede died. Children work hard to come to terms with their learning of death, and I feel honored that they share it with me.
I sometimes shudder imagining the world these young ones will live in, the 40 year olds as well as the 4 year olds. I don't know much about how to help them, but I encourage them to recognize and honor their feelings, to honor one another, and to get their hands on simple tools and dirt.

Hello. I understand your concerns about anxiety, which comes from thoughts mainly formed as a product of several cognitive distortions: Sadness from loss of friends and perhaps your independence because of your disease; mainly not understanding the concept that we humans are born, reproduce, get sick(not always), and die. Worrying about the world changing and the future. Regrets for past actions. Regrets over how our life should have been. Is there anything after death? Will we be conscious that we are dead. All these worries lead to anxiety and anxiety leads to suffering. Also some depression over the gray outlook you painted of your life right now. You might want to seek help with managing your emotions…but I don’t see nothing that an antidepressant and a benzodiazepine couldn’t take care of right now , however, temporarily. Problem with the benzodiazepine is that as an undesired effect, causes memory loss in older folks. I recommend getting involved with the resources available to you in order to make your existence better.

@doclarrea I think that what is mostly helpful is to find help, a real person, psychotherapist to bear witness and make attempts to understand in depth one's experience. Talking to a deeply empathic therapist can make all the difference. I know it can be difficult, but see making attempts to socialize can make all the difference. Our roads are always getting shorter, but they are even shorter in our 80"s. I think it is how we live within shorten roads can make all the difference. However, it seems like making that first or second attempt to get help might make all the difference,

In the right dose, anxiety is useful. Anxiety is our brain's alert system...it flags real threats or unmet obligations so you act on them. A bit of pre-exam nervousness sharpens focus; a little worry before a big presentation makes you prepare better.
The useful version tends to be specific and short-lived...tied to an actual upcoming event, and it resolves once you act. It becomes a problem rather than a tool when it's constant, disproportionate to the actual risk, or when it paralyzes you instead of prompting action.
Every senior generation thinks the world is going to hell in a hand basket because the changes over our lives are dramatic, but change is constant. As the senior generation, we can help to instill the human values that are passed from generation to generation and provide the beginning of a moral compass to our children and grandchildren. We cannot control everything. Neither could our parents or grandparents. As for death, it is inevitable, but worrying about it just brings us closer to it.