When you get to be my age, if you haven’t already, you start to think about downsizing the footprint of your life.

It makes common sense to do so–the kids are grown and on their own, you are tired of mowing the grass and maintaining the house, and you just don’t need as much room anymore.

But, there is more to it than that. You are also becoming aware that you won’t live forever, and having things more simple in your life is good, not only for you, but for your family, for your friends and for those around you.

Some of this is also health driven. Your body and back just don’t want to do as much work as they used to. Cleaning the floors, shoveling the walk, moving furniture around–all of the things you never thought once about doing–now become more of a hassle. It is time to think about downsizing.

Friends of ours recently sold their house and moved into an apartment. Other friends sold a home that they had loved and had hosted innumerable parties and get-togethers in…and bought a smaller house, all on one floor with a drive-in garage. In addition, they share the cost of mutual tasks like snow removal, lawn mowing and driveway maintenance with others in the same development. It simplifies things.

Yet, it isn’t easy to move. There are a lot of memories tied up after you spend many years in the same house.

There are many other reasons why downsizing is difficult. It is an admission of the fact that you are getting older, it usually requires a change in residence which is difficult under any circumstance, and if often means that you are not going to be as much in the center of the “social swirl” in your life…that is being passed down to the younger generation.

Yet, an upside to downsizing, in my view, is that it reminds you of the importance of family and friends. Often, folks of my age will move to be closer to friends and family–and that is a good thing.

It is also important to remember that downsizing is not bad or some kind of anomaly in life. It is a part of the normal thought and decision-making process that comes with aging. It is better to embrace it than to fight it.

One final thought about the subject. Timing can be important. It is better to deal with downsizing while you still have the capability of doing so. If you wait too long, others may be “saddled” with having to make that decision for you. Making and implementing decisions while you can is a good thing.

What Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote is true: “The old order changeth, yielding place to new….”

Welcome to the world of downsizing!

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.