Dementia Friends: Helen Morris reconsiders how she wants to be when she is older

Saddleworth Dementia Friends Champion Helen Morris, from Dobcross, reconsiders how she wants to be when she is older

I WAS inspired talking to a lady with dementia in a local care home who met me by saying she “had been better” and wishing she “was not as she is.”

But then she told me this and I am trying to remember her exact words because they were so powerful: “I try to make the best of everything, each moment and I think – well I can’t do what I used to do but this situation gives me the chance to listen to other people and try and see things from their perspective. It’s really very interesting.”

This is not what I had thought about ageing when I was younger. Then it was ‘I want to look like X’ or ‘Be as fit as Y’ when I am their age.

Now I have been lucky enough to know this amazing woman and have witnessed her poise and dignity when she is extremely conscious of both her failing health and increasing difficulties in ordering her thoughts.

She has even found the grace to accept she does not get enough warning now for a call of nature and so is simply thankful for the protection she has and smiles broadly at me saying “the world will still keep turning!”

How many of us could take this wise approach to dwindling reserves? To be grateful for just being there, to accept that assistance is close by if we just stay calm, to be able to reflect and observe and learn from others?

Terrific! I want to be like that, to have that attitude to every moment, if I reach that stage in life.

Do you want a Dementia Friends Session with Dementia Friends Champion Helen Morris? She would love to run a session for your group and is now taking bookings for June onwards. Call: 07976 702171.