When Anne Lamott took the stage to
deliver a TED talk, it was on the cusp
of her sixty-first birthday. She said, “I
am no longer 47, although this is the
age I feel, and the age I like to think of
myself as being.”
If you aren’t feeling your age, you have
plenty of company. The Pew Research
Center found that the majority of
baby boomers, 61 percent, think of
themselves as younger than they really
are.
“I’m at a good age.” Can you say that?
Do you feel that? These are the kinds of
questions I ask you to ponder because
your attitudes and expectations shape
how you approach your years ahead.
Your viewpoints and actions will
either take years off your life or add
them. Here is how CNN summarized
remarkable findings from two studies:
People who feel younger actually
live longer than those who feel their
age or older, according to a study
in 2015 published in JAMA Internal
Medicine online. [ JAMA is the
Journal of the American Medical
Association .] Another study, this
one by researchers from Yale
University and the University of
California, Berkeley in 2014 found
that people who were exposed to
positive stereotypes about aging
did better on physical tasks, such
as balance, than their peers who
had worked out for the previous six
months.
I’m not campaigning for you to adopt
positive thoughts as a substitute for
physical fitness. Both are good for
you. What you may not have heard
before, however, is how pervasive the
evidence is that your outlook on aging
has powerful effects on your health
and well-being. Steer far away from
discouraging stereotypes about aging!
Instead of giving up on life and slowly
sliding into decline, take inspiration
from older people who are amazing.
Here are some examples:
• Rock-and-roll music legend Chuck
Berry released a new album at age
ninety.
• Astronaut John Glenn was the
oldest person to travel in space at
age seventy-seven. That’s not all he
did after sixty-five either. He spent
a dozen years in Congress as a
senator from Ohio.
• T. Boone Pickens built one of the
largest independent oil companies
in America and then reinvented
himself as head of a highly
successful investment fund. He
thinks his third stage of life counts
as some of his best years: “Last
month I turned 89 years old, mindful
of the fact I’m now 24 years beyond
traditional retirement age. My
post-65 era has included the most
productive years of my life.”
“
In the end, it’s
not the years in your
life that count. It’s
the life in your years.
Solutions • 43