This section is dedicated to those times when people in their last quarter must dig deep to carry on. The struggles can be small, from putting on your pants in the morning to cuddling your honey in the sleepless wee hours of the morning. Until you reach the last quarter you don’t realize that these bits of extra effort are going to be a regular thing. You sort of get used to them, sometimes. This part of the blog explores the variety of those efforts. And you are invited to reflect and comment on the ways that you “dig deep to carry on.” Old age is not for sissies but it is for sisu.

Sisu is a Finnish word that indicates that extra effort one can make in order to get through a difficult situation. I was introduced to the concept by Emilia Elisabet Lahti, who has carefully researched the concept and tested it with ultramarathons and grueling martial arts training. But she has also evolved a concept of gentle sisu, a process of allowing greater possibility rather than forcing with stubborn effort. Read more about her book Gentle Power here: https://www.sisulab.com

The idea for Senior Sisu was born out of the realization that people in their later years most often have a day to day need to go beyond a bit just in order to carry on. I decided to explore the many areas seniors use sisu: Dealing with pain, loss, resurging memory, loss of memory, caregiving, helplessness, sexuality, disease, and of course, death.

• Senior sisu and pain
• Senior sisu and senior moments