Loving Life at Any Age

By Ming Teoh, StarLifestyle, The Star

Soo enjoys hiking in Gasing Hill. Photo: Sharon Soo

To Sharon Soo, a retiree from Subang Jaya, Selangor, who rejoined the workforce at the age of 60, life can begin at anytime and anywhere. “But here in Malaysia, once you hit retirement age and are called a senior, you often end up having to forego a lot of things. People often think it’s the end of the road and everything goes downhill from then on,” says Soo. “But for me personally, I’ve been working throughout my entire life. So when I retired, I was wondering how I would be able to cope with not working. I had that fear because I was always so occupied, and suddenly, I would be stuck at home with nothing to do unlike others who were still going to work,” she shares. But then, the pandemic happened, and while everyone was looking at it negatively, Soo decided to focus on the positive. “I was thinking that because of the pandemic, I wouldn’t be the only one stuck at home. The whole world was also put on pause with everyone being in the same boat as me, not able to go out to work (unless they were in essential services),” she says. Soo says that thought made her sit back and think of what she could do with the rest of her life. “I exercised, took up gardening and started planting my own vegetables. I learnt how to bake and also make local kuih – and all of it was learnt online,” she says, adding that where there’s a will, there’s always a way. “I even joined the online Toastmasters, and I got to meet people online. When you do your presentation, you share, you learn, you laugh – and that keeps you going,” she says.

It’s Just a Number

“People say that age is just a number, but you’ve to realise it’s important and you can’t deny that number. You just can’t let that number hinder you,” says Soo. She believes that regardless of one’s age, there’s always a way to pursue one’s dreams as long as the interest and capability is there. “Why stop living and sit at home, feeling depressed and sorry for yourself just because you’ve reached a certain stage in life? “You can do all the things that you never had the time nor energy to do while you were still working,” she says. Soo decided to re-enter the workforce. But as a retiree, Soo wanted more flexibility in terms of time and didn’t seek a nine to five, full-time job. “I got a job through the Hire Seniors platform which a friend had told me about,” she says. She was hired on a six-month contract, after which both she and her employer would mutually evaluate whether to continue. Today, Soo works as a communications manager for a social media company and her contract ends in December. Unlike most people’s perception of seniors being not as technology-savvy as their younger counterparts, Soo did not have any issues to adapting during the movement control order when everyone had to work from home. “We were sent for online training to stay relevant and abreast of things, so I’m able to use Zoom, and familiar with webinars and such stuff,” she says.

Health is Wealth

Soo feels that it’s important for seniors to be as independent as possible. “Make sure you have savings to keep you going, and make sure you take care of your health,” she advises. Soo reveals that she had opted for early retirement in Jan 2018 even though she had a good career, because she had to go for spine surgery. She was 57 at that time. “It was a major surgery and I now have a titanium plate in my back, as well as a synthetic disc with donated bones in my body,” she reveals. “But we can’t take life so severely like it’s the end of the world when something happens,” she adds optimistically. Soo reveals that she was in a lot of pain and told that if she didn’t go for the surgery, she could have become paralysed. While in hospital, she did a lot of soul-searching. “I asked myself why I was there – perhaps I didn’t take care of myself and overworked. So maybe this was a divine intervention reminding me to think of myself and not just about others,” she says. “This is where I realised that health really is wealth.” After going through surgery, Soo was in pain for two years but she tried not to take any painkillers and instead tried to increase her pain threshold. “I went through physiotherapy for several months and also did my own stretching and strengthening exercises at home, and went for walks,” she says. Today, there is improvement in her condition and Soo is able to go hiking in the forest. “While I can’t say that I’m 100% fully recovered, nor that I don’t feel any discomfort, I believe it’s all in the mind and the mind needs to be positive. If it doesn’t hurt too much, I will just ignore it,” she says. “If you think what you’re going through is bad, there are always those who are having it worse. At least I can still walk, go out and do a lot of things, so I don’t look at things negatively,” she adds. The pandemic, she says, hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her passion for hiking, although she is mindful about staying safe and following all SOPs. “We can’t be hibernating forever. Life still has to go on. But we know that we can’t run away from Covid-19 because the virus is still out there. We’ve to learn to live with and manage it so that we don’t get infected,” she says.

It's important for seniors to be as independent as possible, says Soo. Photo: Sharon Soo

“We must make sure we follow the SOPs, and associate with people with the same mindset – they also follow the SOPs. This is how we protect ourselves because we wouldn’t just be risking ourselves but also those around us.” “I still go for my walk and I still go hiking, but we’re just selective who we go with,” she adds. Contrary to popular opinion, she says, growing older is not all bad. “There are advantages to aging too,” says Soo. “As one grows older, they become wiser and will have a wealth of knowledge. For a younger person, if someone criticises you or says something you don’t like, you might feel sensitive or get upset about it. But now that you’re in your 60s, you realise you can’t make everyone happy and you don’t let the little things get to you.” “Those days, you may feel you need to have quantity where friends are concerned, but now, you go for quality,” she says. “At the end of the day, ‘those who mind, don’t matter and those who matter, don’t mind’, so just smile and be happy,” concludes Soo.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2021/11/13/loving-life-at-any-age. This article first appeared in StarLifestyle, The Star, on November 12, 2021.