Life lessons from Torbay Hospital Radio: how priorities shift as we get older

Priorities change as we get older, it’s inevitable.

I think about my own life, I can see many shifts over the years, maybe you will recognise some that I am pointing out here.
Words like responsibility, mortgages and family are ones that are littered along life’s highway, but they all creep up on us at different speeds and from different directions, and some hit us like a wrecking ball when we are least expecting it.

Some people I have spoken to hated school, whereas others loved it.

I look back on it very fondly.

Some of my closest friendships were forged then.

We all had a shared experience, and whilst when we talk about it on those occasional meet ups, the recollection is often slightly different, it is nonetheless a happy moment thinking back to when we were young.

In those days, for me, it was all about having fun and particularly playing sport.

A friend of mine and I used to love going to the local field and playing cricket.
We got stumps and bought a cricket ball from Woolworths, and we’d play test matches.

They used to go on for hours, just the two of us, unless we could persuade someone to field for us.
Occasionally, of course, one of us would get a bit excited and launch the ball over the fence into the gardens nearby, which caused annoying delays as neither of us wanted to continue with our back up tennis ball.

Relationships come and go often when you are young.

They seem important and often heartbreaking when they don’t work out.
When they are right, they are right and can bring much happiness.

First dates seemed very daunting to us all; I mean, talking to someone of the opposite sex was like learning a foreign language.
Someone advised me once that a good way to get to know your date is to ask about their first pet, favourite movie & Mum’s maiden name.

Not that I ever did; today, with all the scam emails, you have to be careful, as giving that information sounds like a recipe for identity theft!!

Are people more serious nowadays?

There could have been an asteroid on course for Earth, and I would have been more concerned about the football scores when I was younger.

Then you get married, and children come along, tied up in a nice little package called responsibilities.
Your priorities completely change when you are totally responsible for another helpless human being.

But for me it also came with much joy, family being the lynchpin of everything.
Watching them grow and prosper, whilst in the meantime juggling finances, work responsibilities, life is beginning to sound like a complex affair.

Why? Because it is!

As my colleagues and I meet staff, and in particular patients around the hospital, we see how priorities change.
It is young and old at Torbay, and it is remarkable how they are helped deal with the trauma of being in hospital.

It’s not just medical; it is often an improvement in mental wellbeing that can lead to improvements in health.
That, of course, is seen as more important as we age, living a bit longer, doing a bit more, watching the kids grow up, meeting your grandchildren, all reason to soldier on.

As time passes, you will have to either quit your job voluntarily or retire early (maybe because you worked for a large firm that has stressed you out and wants to employ less expensive millennials).

Many of you will want to do other things in retirement.
I have learned such a lot since I retired; it was just a case of new priorities and working out how I could include them in my life.

So just remember, keep an eye on what’s important and “Embrace change like a child embraces cake with open arms and a big smile.”