My blog is going to talk about whatI hope I will acheive in my middle adulthood years. I am only 27 years old so I have a while until I reach this period in my life. I want to start with discussing my expected physical development during my middle adulthood.
My mother started to gray at an early age in her life. However my father did not start turning gray until he was 52 years old. I remember he used to make me pull his gray hairs out. I guess he got too many that he could not keep up with. I have started to notice gray hairs the past three years in my hair. I say it is because I am so stressed but research does not support this fact. I wonder at times will I turn totally gray at an early age. As for vision I have no problems at all. Both my parents and my twin sister wear glasses. My mother's father is 87 years old and only has to wear glasses to read. When it comes to glasses, I am the lucky one of the bunch.
During the past three years, my mother has started to develop hearing loss. Last year she purshased a set of hearing aids. Her father and mother both suffer from some level of hearing loss. As for my father's side there are is none that I know of. However my father's mother suffered from breast cancer at the age of 81. Good News! It was removed within in two months. His father suffered from Dementia at the age of 79 and passed away.
As for the social development period of this time period I hope to have a group of close friends. According to the social selectivity theory, as we age we often place more value on the quality of our friendships rather than the quantity of friendships. We choose to spend more time with a selective group of close friends such as our family, spouse,etc. I have noticed this in myself already. As you have read in earlier blogs I have two very close friends that I know I will be able to count on forever. Since I have moved away from them and gotten married,I have realized I rather spend my time with my husband and dog instead of going out with the girlfriends. My mother is 54 and has 5 girlfriends she has been very close with for the past 30 years. Every May they plan a trip to the beach. They might not see eachother until then but they make up for the lost times during that time. I hope I am able to continue a close relationship with Katie and Ains as we age. I have noticed as I have gotten older my twin sister and I have developed a wonderful bond and friendship we did not have as young girls. I hope one day we might even be able to live close together so that we can continue that bond.
As for my career I hope to continue working with special needs individuals. I know this is my calling and I will continue to share that special gift to individuals in need. I plan one day to possibly become and Diagnotician or maybe an OT. As Havinghurst mentioned in the readings, middle adulthood is a time to reach and matain satisfaction in one's choosen career. I hope to reach this period in my life where I feel I have reached satisfaction in all areas of my life.
