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I want to keep gardening.
Joan wasn't trying to get her old life back. At 91, she was already living it. The question was how to help her keep it that way.
3 minute read
You don't have to wait until you've lost something before protecting it.
Where the plan began
Joan is 91, and already very independent. Her family live some distance away, and with winter coming, they understandably wanted reassurance that she would be alright.
But Joan had her own goal. She wanted to keep gardening.
That's where the plan began.
Maintain, not regain
Many conversations about later life begin after something has been lost. After a fall. After an illness. After a confidence has quietly gone.
Harris James believes there is another opportunity. Protecting independence while someone still has it.
Joan wasn't trying to regain something she had lost. She was trying to hold on to what she still had. Her strength, her balance, her confidence, and the ordinary life those things make possible.
Her programme progressed carefully towards weighted exercises, including medicine-ball sit-to-stands and reverse lunges, with steady improvements in balance and confidence.
What success looks like
The exercises were never the outcome. They were the means.
Another gardening season. Continuing independence. Confidence in everyday movement.
I want to keep gardening.
Harris James reflection
Sometimes success is getting something back.
Sometimes it's never having to give it up.
This is what Harris James means when we talk about protecting a life still being lived, not only restoring one that has paused.
- Strength
- Balance
- Confidence
- Gardening
- Independence
This story involved
Harris James Active
A conversation
What would you like to keep exactly as it is?
Perhaps it's a garden. Perhaps it's a walk you still enjoy.
Perhaps it's simply the feeling that life is still yours to keep living. Tell us what you'd like to hold on to. We'll start there.
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