We all recognize that as we grow older, our abilities to do certain things become minimized. I find that my father, for the most part, only enjoyed things that required a high level of physical strength and coordination (mowing the lawn, working in the yard, sailing, building small intricate wood projects, etc.) and now finds himself unable to do those things. A by-product of that lack of activity is that his hands and hand-eye coordination has suffered. He thinks it’s “old age” or some other condition, but most of it is simply that he doesn’t use skills he used to and therefore he has lost them.
Watching YouTube I found an occupational therapy exercise designed for little kids and modified it to something “more adult” that I thought he may do. The video with this post is his first exercise separating pennies, nickels, and dimes into separate cups. The exercise is supposed to involve one time with each hand, but after the right hand he quit today. Hopefully he’ll do a left hand later or at least both next time.
The lesson here for me is, if I don’t already have some, develop hobbies and activities that I can continue well into the latter years of my life to keep my hands and mind nimble. Take a few minutes and think about activities you enjoy and if you can continue them into your latter years. If not, start looking for new hobbies!