Living Agelessly

Living Agelessly

by Linda Altoonian

I’m a babyboomer who has recently turned 59½, just six months shy of sixty. The only other impending birthday I was this concerned about was when I turned 30. Not to be able to say I was in my twenties anymore just felt awful.

In my twenties, I also remember thinking that 60 was very old, and in those days, it was. Sixty-year-olds were gray, more sedentary, and often retired from work and active lifestyles. The babyboomers have changed all that. We are a stubborn group—insisting on the best life has to offer at every juncture and refusing to behave as any generation before.

We dye our hair and have plastic surgery, consume healthier food, antioxidants and supplements to reduce weight and increase energy, and exercise to keep toned and pain free. We look and feel younger.

So even if 60 sounds old to you, like it still does me, the reality is that today’s 60 is yesterday’s 40, and it is possible to age with far more power and success than ever before, if you just know how.

You might be asking who I am to give advice about aging. In addition to first hand experience with the process, I cared for both my parents for the last five years of their lives. During that time, I learned about the medical, financial, legal and social problems associated with growing older, getting sick and passing away. It was a difficult and sad time in my life, but ultimately uplifting and gratifying.

It was also educational. I learned how to be better prepared than my parents were, and I began to do what I was learning, and my life improved. It’s not perfect, but it’s getting better every day.

I also decided it was critical to share the information I learned with others in my situation. Because I’m a journalist, I began writing a column about the subject of growing older. It was a write-in column called Dear Ageless that appeared weekly in many papers around the country and on the wire service for over five years.

Ultimately, I wrote a book about the subject called Living Agelessly: Creating a Lifestyle for Midlife and Beyond. It’s full of great tips, many resources, websites and phone numbers of those who can help you further. You can visit Amazon.com for reviews and purchase, or my website http://www.dearageless.com/.

It has been a rewarding journey so far, not just because the information has been helpful to others, but because the aging process doesn’t end until our last breath, and so I still have much to learn about the subject and much to do to improve my own life.

This blog will be dedicated to sharing what steps I’m taking to improve my health, my outlook, and my life. I am starting with a change in attitude about the age 60. I am going to stop thinking that it is the beginning of the end. That may not sound like a lot, but there is great power in our thoughts.

Remember this:

Watch your thoughts;

They define your words.

Watch your words;

They define your actions.
Watch your actions;
They define your habits.

Watch your habits;

They define your character.

Watch your character;
It defines your destiny.