Chapter 13: Handout Assignment

Handout 13-3

Prioritizing the Present Directions: Assume for a moment that you have a limited time to live, just as an elderly person, in general, has a more limited future than do younger adults. Vy'hat would you do or change if you were in late adulthood and nearing death? Please answer the following questions and explain why you answered the way you did.

1. V/ould you tell people you love them more often?

2. Would you shift your priorities from gaining material possessions to something more meaningful?

3. Would you end a long-running disagreement with a friend or family member?

4. Would you begin giving away your special pictures and sharing the story behind them with each recipient?

5. Would you continue working to supplement your Social Security income and,/or pay for medical needs that Medicare won't cover?

6. Would you make funeral arrangements to help minimize the burden on your survivors?

7. Would you take a wild risk, like George H. W. Bush did, and parachute out of a plane on your eightieth birthday? Go hang gliding? Swim with sharks? Or ?

8. Would you volunteer your services wherever you'd like?

9. Would you write or record any messages to leave to your survivors----especially the young grandchildren or great grandchildren?

10. Would you learn something you always wanted to leam but didn't have the time (e.g., juggling, making balloon animals, brewing beer, etc.)?

I l. Other changes or to-do items?

Chapter 13: Later Life: Cognitive and Socioemotional Development 13.19