One benefit that comes with age

In my line of work, it is all too easy to focus on the negative side of ageing. And there are some inescapable truths – such as the inevitable decline in physical function and, of course, the certainty of death.

What is often missed, however, are the benefits of having many decades under your belt.

It is good, then, to consider the value of getting older. And that certainly exists.

One such example is the begetting of wisdom – something generally lacking in our younger and less experienced selves.

The quote: ‘Youth is wasted on the young’, generally attributed to the playwright George Bernard Shaw, captures this eloquently.

But what do we mean by ‘wisdom’?

Everyone has a rough definition in their head, I suppose, but it is interesting to explore it a little more precisely.

In psychological circles, it is considered a multidimensional construct, basically meaning that it has multiple elements.

The first is the ability to contextualise new information, to understand how it fits with your experiences to date.

This helps you appreciate what is important and what is not, and therefore to be able to prioritise decisions and tasks you need to undertake. This is why businesses do well when there is an experienced leader at the helm: they are able to understand what requires focus, meaning that extraneous and less relevant matters can be disregarded or deferred.

The second ingredient of wisdom is truly understanding what is in your control and being comfortable with what is not. This tolerance of uncertainty is not something that comes naturally to the young, who often feel they have agency over everything, and, if only everyone agreed with them, all problems would  be solved!

Life is full of unpredictability – seemingly more so right now, with global geopolitical tension and climate change. Wisdom allows you to accept this more readily and to concentrate on what you can do.

Another quality inherent in wisdom is less intuitive – that of empathy. This can be split into cognitive and affective (emotional) components.

The longer you have lived, the more opportunities you will have had to encounter other people whose experiences and thoughts differ from your own.

Inculcation of these different perspectives serves to broaden your own views, or at least to understand that our own are not universally shared.

This is a critical part of cognitive empathy. Affective empathy, or the ability to feel what other people feel, is the product of having had similar experiences yourself – again, something that accrues over the years.

I truly think wisdom is one of the blessings of age. This is perhaps more the case in our Westernised societies where there is a prevailing narrative of decline.

In Eastern cultures, and even locally in Indigenous cultures, wisdom is recognised as important, and Elders are a valued part of society in part for this reason.

They have seen the world and understand it at a level out of reach of their younger peers.

Of course, how much wiser you become with age does vary from person to person, depending on your ability to be mindful of yourself and others, and to be reflective. As Oscar Wilde, a contemporary of George Bernard Shaw, quipped: “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone”.

So, what are the lessons here?

Well, at a personal level, cultivating your own awareness of the world and the people around you, and being open to learning from it, is a powerful mindset to develop wisdom.

And within our society, we must value and embrace the wisdom of those who have lived long enough to have already acquired it.

 Kailas Roberts is a psychogeriatrician and author of Mind Your Brain: The Essential Australian Guide to Dementia, available at bookstores and online. Visit yourbraininmind.com or uqp.com.au