Children of Baby Boomers

It wasn't until my late thirties that I realized my parents aren't going to live forever. Ok, intellectually I knew that one day I would have to live without them, but it wasn't until recently that I felt the emotion behind this thought. Reality takes hold when we watch our parent’s age and fall victim to more diseases then their parents had to face. Times have changed; they used to comment on how baby boomer children are moving back in with their parents unable to make it in the real world. Nobody comments on how the advanced aging process impacts the baby boomer's kids. 

Different types of dementia or physiological disease we assumed only plague people in their late 80's and early 90's are now present in 60's and 70's. People are living longer, so they will also be living longer with certain forms of dementia and other geriatric illnesses. Some of us will watch painfully as we lose our parents 20 years earlier than expected. 

Rachel Rowitt | Grace Counseling, Inc.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Recently, I moved and it occurred to me that it is harder to unpack then to pack boxes. Naturally, as a therapist, I make the analogy to unpacking memories, emotions and traumas. It seems that for some it seems easier to stuff and keep things locked up and stashed away as unwanted clutter. In the long run, our boxes overflow and symptoms of depression, anxiety and other associated disorders surface.

As clinicians, we ask our clients to unlock and unburden themselves from the past in order to alleviate symptoms. In my experience, this act of “emptying the box” is sometimes painful and duration is unpredictable. For others, the contents in the box have become part of their identity so they hold on to unwanted distress.

Thankfully with moving, I can throw the unneeded clutter out while I am unpacking. Awareness, acceptance and forgiveness are three concepts that can help to reduce the contents in the proverbial boxes in our minds.

Rachel Rowitt | Grace Counseling, Inc.