Most of us participate in this annual spring ritual of turning the clock ahead one hour – signally the ending of winter and the approach of warmer weather as we begin enjoying longer evening daylight hours.
Time is the great constant
No matter what we do or where we are, there is time – or at least our understanding of it at that moment, even if it doesn’t directly reflect what the clock might be showing then. There always is time. It’s how we keep score in life.
We measure past, present, and future events with time – the number of days (or sometimes years or other periods of measure) since something occurred or until it will happen. We celebrate anniversaries, holidays, and other important observances and commemorations in our family, community, and nation.
Aging in place is about time
Essentially, everything in life concerns time or is directly affected by it. Aging in place certainly fits this description. We are living in our homes over time and making modifications or adjustments as necessary to compensate for what various changes or requirements over time are presenting.
We start out with our homes a certain way on the day we move into them. They work for us, or we know what we would like to do to make them more satisfactory for our needs, desires, and personal design tastes. As the days, weeks, and months pass, we may notice that certain additional changes – or ones that weren’t evident previously – are now on our radar.
Making adjustments for aging in place
Just as aging in place in our long-term homes is about making necessary adjustments and tweaks – often very minor – to remain safe and functional in our living spaces, adapting to the change in time similarly is about making adjustments. Immediately it may present some challenges with the way the adjusted sunlight makes things appear and our sleep patterns and daily habits, but within a few days, things will normalize, and it will be as if nothing has changed. Of course, it all happens again in the other direction in November.
Aging in place is all about making adjustments for the way our bodies and living spaces change – or at least the way we perceive changes in them. Adjusting for daylight savings time (or the return to standard time again in the fall) is just part of the changes we encounter.