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This is no surprise … America is going gray. The population is aging. WE are aging. By 2050, there will be 80 million older people. If you are a Baby Boomer, you already qualify as old … Your numbers are expected to double by 2050.
The fastest-growing group is the oldest old—those eighty-five and over. There will be 19 million of them in 30 years.
What does this mean to you? It means this is an inescapable fact of life. And we all have to accept it and deal with it, whether we want to or not.
Let’s face it. Getting older is not a walk in the park. Betty Davis once remarked that aging is not for sissies.
Our bodies change in unexpected ways … making us feel that we are little more than crumbling machines that are breaking down one nut and bolt at a time. … But we are not machines. And having parts break down is not inevitable.
The good news is that we play a significant role in preventing the predictable effects of aging. A healthy life is no accident. Yes, it begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If we adopt the right lifestyle, we can add decades to our lives. We can live to be 100.
So, what are good habits? Well, by now we all know that they involve exercise and good nutrition … eating whole, healthy foods …. and moving our bodies … avoiding fast food, junk food, and processed food … increasing our stamina., our strength., and our flexibility.
But there’s another side to healthy living. It has everything to do with ATTITUDE.
We live in a youth-obsessed society. Despite our numbers, we are often invisible … But what matters is not how the world sees us—or doesn’t see us. It is how we see ourselves. To be healthy, we need a positive, yet realistic, self-image … a new perception of who we are … what we are capable of … and what we can contribute to society.
Write this down. We create our own reality. We are what we think about. The question is not how we want to be seen by others … it is how do we want to see ourselves?
If we don’t see ourselves as strong and capable … as valuable and wise … we need an attitude adjustment. Today is not too soon to push that reset button on our attitudes.
