Determining Your Shelf Life

Well, the summer has been brutal, hasn’t it? And it is not over yet! I am back to writing this blog and am so grateful to you for reading it. May I ask a favor? Will you please forward this to one person (or more) who you think may enjoy the blog? And if you agree, please ask them to sign up to receive it regularly. I have absolutely nothing to sell or request of my dear readers. Just sign up and read. I feel quite certain your friend will thank you! And I thank you very much!

Recently, I was researching articles about topics that I thought you would find interesting and applicable to our modern lives as seniors and “almost seniors”. What I found was so discouraging. These articles think all we are interested in is the “disease du jour”, getting dementia, falling, how to trim fat, not being a couch potato, etc.

Well, I for one, find these topics are, of course, important as we age and are equally important to address as we find the need. However, it is not what I need to think about on a daily basis. Daily, I want to think about how the inevitable maturing we all experience can bring more fun, more intelligence and more excitement as we age. I have done the work that is so very necessary as I grow older, (trusts, wills, powers of attorney, etc.) so now is the time to take advantage of all the wisdom I have accumulated and spread the wealth and the excitement of aging. Yes, I said excitement. It can be, you know. Aging can be sharing, learning, creating, discovering, and planning for the future. We all have a future until we don’t. Simple, really.

Keep going until you can’t.

I found a site that is interesting in all that it shares about aging…. www.seniorplant.org. One of the topics is how seniors are enjoying the silver lining of maturing. Very interesting. Here are some of the things they are doing:

• At age 51, back to school

• At age 81 getting a master’s degree

• At age 68 managing an 80-acre property

• At age 61, on their third career as a writer of senior sex. Woo-hoo.

One woman commented that we all have a “shelf life” but we need to “rise above the discomfort, indignity and uncertainty”. Amen to that.

So, my question to you is this: What do you look forward to with excitement each day? What brings you joy? Happiness? Keep in mind, it does not have to be anything earth shaking. Some days there is nothing as sweet and yummy as the gift of being able to stretch out on the couch and read (finally!) that book you have had on hold for way too long. Read it! And here is the thing…don’t explain why you are on the couch all day to anyone. I have a saying in my office that explains how I feel about that. It says, “I am who I am. Your approval is not needed”! Don’t you love it?

The object is to enjoy! We worked many, many years to get to where we are currently. We have aches and pains, for sure. My husband said the other day, “if I didn’t have an ache, I wouldn’t know I was alive”. Well, maybe not that bad, but I see his point. Rise above the discomfort and uncertainty and go. Let the world know there is more to being a senior than worrying about falling or getting dementia. We are the sum of a whole lot of wonderful parts! Get out there today, have fun and discover something new.

Happy Aging,

Sue