Explain what successful aging is according to continuity theory.

From the perspective of continuity theory, successful aging entails not simply remaining active but maintaining a sense of consistency in self across their past into the future. Despite changing roles, people are motivated to maintain their habits, personalities, and lifestyles, adapting as needed to maintain a sense of continuity, that they are the same person they have always been. This entails acknowledging and minimizing losses, integrating them with their sense of self, and optimizing their strengths to construct a life path that maintains their sense of remaining the same person over time despite physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes. Older adults tend to seek routine: familiar people, familiar activities, and familiar settings. Most of older adults' friends are old friends. Engaging in familiar activities with familiar people preserves a sense of self and offers comfort, social support, self-esteem, mastery, and identity.