If age and declining health leave you unable to care for a household shrine, must you force yourself to keep worshipping there?

If age or physical limitations mean you can no longer properly care for the worship arrangements at home, you can find out how to handle them appropriately. You do not need to keep forcing yourself to maintain a shrine you cannot look after.

Once, at a client's home, the old altar cabinet had become unstable underneath. The elder in the family did not dare touch it and did not know how to put it in order. I discussed with the family that, since their circumstances no longer allowed proper worship, they could discontinue the household arrangement and seek help to respectfully conclude the deity's enshrinement according to their faith. We made further arrangements only after the client agreed.

This does not mean deciding an elder should stop worshipping simply because they are old, nor telling people to throw a shrine away directly. Consider the family's wishes, actual ability to provide care, and existing worship arrangements. Understand these before acting, so that both respect for faith and daily needs are attended to.