{"id":1989,"date":"2011-12-22T08:30:03","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T08:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1989"},"modified":"2016-01-07T14:12:37","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T14:12:37","slug":"real-life-in-later-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/real-life-in-later-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Life in Later Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Having spent nine years working for Age Concern I feel just a little qualified to know something about growing older \u2013 and according to Age Concern you are an older man when you reach the age of 50! Now before you start complaining, I did not say OLD \u2013 I said <em>OLDER!<\/em> Older is a relative term used purely to distinguish you from someone who is younger.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, however, it was always hard to engage with older men. Even when events were specifically designed for them, very few seemed to attend. Does that say something about how independent we men like to think we are? How solitary? How self-assured?<\/p>\n<p>This being said, it is interesting that our CVM group here in Northumberland attracts high numbers of <em>older<\/em> older men &#8211; repetition intended! Many of these men live alone and are less able to get out and about on their own. However, good friends and neighbours bring them along to our regular breakfast meetings and, although having led lives of independence, they are welcoming being included and are open to talk about spiritual matters.<\/p>\n<p>I often wonder about the age profiles of other CVM groups around the country. Sometimes I get the impression that we are a &#8216;young guys&#8217; movement, which is brilliant &#8211; reaching men in the younger bracket. But are we missing out on having a word to say and a message to deliver to older men? Men who may be considering more &#8216;end-of-life&#8217; issues? Men who are still looking for what life \u2013 <em>real<\/em> life \u2013 has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>After all, when Jesus said that he had come to bring life in all its fullness, I am sure he meant it to include those living in the fullness of years.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/real-life-in-later-life\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having spent nine years working for Age Concern I feel just a little qualified to know something about growing older \u2013 and according to Age Concern you are an older man when you reach the age of 50! Now before you start complaining, I did not say OLD \u2013 I said OLDER! Older is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":5895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[323,20,23,39,48,324],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-w5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4536,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reaching-the-over-50s\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":0},"title":"Reaching the over 50&#8217;s","date":"4 September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Date:\u00a0Saturday 12th October 2013 Venue: St Thomas Church,\u00a0Chatsworth Road, Brampton, Chesterfield, S40 3AW Cost: \u00a35 Includes lunch and refreshments Contact: Steve Martin steve.martin@cvm.org.uk We are very aware of the unique challenges, opportunities and skills that exist with older men across the CVM Network. We are looking to expand, focus and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4747,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reaching-out-to-older-men-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":1},"title":"Reaching Out to Older Men (part 1)","date":"24 October 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We recently had a forum where we discussed how we can do better at reaching older men with Jesus. Here is part 1 of a presentation by David Shipley: It is right to discourage any disconnect between and across age ranges within the CVM network. However, too much conformity denies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4748,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/reaching-out-to-older-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":2},"title":"Reaching Out to Older Men (part 2)","date":"31 October 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing on from last week, here is part 2 of a presentation by David Shipley: Preparing for later life In order to cope with these changes, as men get older, they need to engage with other interests and other social networks, to re-introduce themselves to their partners and families and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4651,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/age-means-you-are-still-valuable\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":3},"title":"Age means you are still valuable","date":"25 September 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Age means you are still valuable Saga is that well known organisation that focuses on the over 50\u2019s and is often the butt of a comedian\u2019s jokes but a recent survey has calculated that middle age doesn\u2019t start until you have reached 53. Also it has been said that life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2371,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/what-is-civilisation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":4},"title":"What is &#8216;Civilisation&#8217;?","date":"15 March 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"One definition of 'Civilisation' is 'how a society cares for the vulnerable ... the sick, the old, the homeless and the weak.' There are 376,000 older people living in 10,000 care homes in England. Many do not have access to a geriatrician, who could significantly improve their quality of life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3725,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/extended-families\/","url_meta":{"origin":1989,"position":5},"title":"Extended families","date":"21 February 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Many older people have to survive all week without a single visitor, let alone a handshake or a hug from someone. Yet some cutting-edge social projects are bucking the trend by deliberately sticking older people in the same room as the parents and toddlers. The older people in these studies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/CVM-50plus-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6570,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions\/6570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}