Wait … who’s confused?

In a memoir I’m reading, the author starts coming to terms with some unease between herself and her mother, and she relates a few moments where she and her sister notice something odd in mom’s behavior.

The sisters find themselves exchanging worried glances, “wondering if she’d been under the influence of alcohol or only accumulated years.” 

The expectation, of course, is that “only accumulated years” automatically have the same effect on behavior as drunkenness—leaving one silly, confused, and impaired. But research shows otherwise.

The accumulation of years doesn’t cause confused behavior. However, carrying negative assumptions about aging certainly can.

Photo by Anna Schvets on Pexels.