The Northwest Prime
newsletter this month (July/August 2010) is focusing on the journey toward
better health and longevity. What an inspiration! Attitude is
everything. The key to successful aging
is acting as if you are still living,
rather than dying.
We are entering a new
era. Many kids today will live past 100
with their mental and physical health intact.
Medical science attributes these statistics to the interplay of diet,
exercise, and genetics but wants to remind us that attitude plays an important role also. A positive attitude can make
a huge difference as you grabble with thoughts about what you are going to do
with second half of your life. Are you
going to focus on being happy and productive or miserable?
How are you going to live these bonus years that
you never expected to have? A longer
lifespan is going to alter the way people allocate their time.
The world is going to have
to take notice and do some major policy changes when it comes to employment,
retirement, health, and education.
Marjory Zoet Bankston in her
book “Creative Aging,” shares the idea that the years between sixty-and
seventy-five (and who says that it has to stop there) are giving us a period of
possibilities that didn’t exist a generation ago. Our
culture tends to send the message that endless leisure is the reward for years
of work. Leisure gets old in a
hurry. Wisdom and experience are
valuable assets that should be tapped into. Seniors today want to be useful without feeling
used or taken for granted, but no one is going to know that unless you tell
them. Senior activists are alive and
well and it is time to be heard. Never before have so many people reached
retirement age with such a wealth of social consciousness, advanced education
and access to medical care that can assure good health.
The article goes on to
mention the importance of positive role models.
The focus will be on dispelling
some of the stereotypes that people
have of old age. It is time to get rid
of the notion that that being old has to be a time of disinterest and
decrepitude and focus on living. It is
time to accept the losses that are associated with aging without letting them
keep you from moving forward. It is
attitude that will keep you active and strong.
It is your attitude that will keep you independent.
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