Tag Archives: aging

The Caregiving Cliff

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

The Washington Post recently had a series entitled “Caregiving: A Special Report,” exploring the many facets of caregiving in America. Some articles focus on individual stories of caregiving, while others have more to do more with the scope of the … Continue reading →

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When Older Adults Think of the Dead

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In a recent post about the unprocessed emotions that many older adults accumulate, I quoted a line by 93-year-old essayist Roger Angell to the effect that advanced age provides plenty of opportunities for bad news. Angell also describes his experiences with loss; in this post … Continue reading →

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Becoming A Practicing Psychologist: How I Now View It

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

This post is a follow-up to one I wrote earlier about a transition during my early 30s—leaving my budding career as a college professor to work as a clinical psychologist in the Michigan prison system. I thought of this as a midlife transition. … Continue reading →

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The Death of a Parent, Part 2

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In a recent post I described an article by novelist Mark Slouka on the effect that his father’s death had on him. I provided a few quotes from the article, each followed by my reflections. Here are some more quotes, … Continue reading →

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Memento Mori

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

During Ash Wednesday services, the priest or minister makes a cross of ashes on the participant’s forehead and says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We begin the Lenten journey, in other words, by memento mori (Latin … Continue reading →

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Unfinished Business

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently wrote a brief article on “unfinished business” for the website at Psychology Associates of Grand Rapids, where I work part-time as a therapist.  According to psychologist Fritz Perls, our unfinished business consists of all the emotionally significant events … Continue reading →

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The Death of a Parent

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In January, the New Yorker website had an excellent (though rather long) article by novelist Mark Slouka on the effect that his father’s death had on him. He describes himself now as “orphaned at fifty-five, nobody’s son, trying to plot … Continue reading →

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My Life Story: Becoming a Practicing Psychologist

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

In a previous post about changes in midlife, I described several significant changes that I underwent. The first of these was that, at age 32, I decided that I wasn’t satisfied teaching what I hadn’t practiced, and sought part-time (later full-time) clinical … Continue reading →

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Why Older Adults Are Lousy Multitaskers

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I’m a multitasker. I started today by simultaneously eating breakfast, watching CBS This Morning, and reading an article on Pope Francis. Later, I jumped from computer to tablet to phone. Unfortunately, whenever I multitask I miss out on important information, … Continue reading →

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My Midlife Crisis? Which One?

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I wrote earlier about the First, Second, and Third Spiritual Journeys of life. The Second Journey—having to do with some sort of reorientation during middle adulthood—encompasses the “mid-life crisis” of common parlance. This post will describe the concept of the mid-life … Continue reading →

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