Getting Older

A group of older women are talking. One, age 64, suggests she is beginning to feel old. Her friend, age 68, says, “No, not me – I’m not old, I’m even working part-time.” Their friend, age 75, says, “No, me neither. I feel full of energy.” What is going on?

Six in ten family caregivers are employed, the majority work full time. Surprisingly, 25 percent of family caregivers are Millennials. According to Met Life, in the U.S. alone, employers incur $13.4 billion per year in added health care costs…

There has been so much conversation, all around the world, about the value of life once a person reaches 65. Ultimately, this begs the question: what is lacking within us that we can so casually discuss the disposability of our elders?

At 60, there’s a blessing in my bones, a glow in my heart and a radiance in my thinking. My body has settled from all of the experiences of the past and wraps herself around me like a beloved friend. And indeed, she is. We have been through so much…

My mother passed away during the pandemic. She didn’t die from Covid-19. But because she died during the height of last year’s lockdown, we could not pay proper tribute to her life in the days and weeks following her death. One year on, we are finally…

When my father was in his mid-80s, I remember him saying that when he was 75 he had to let go of thinking he was 40. He lived for another 10 years after saying that! Interesting – a mixture of a positive mindset and some realism. I do much to support my life now…

I am writing this the day after Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship, becoming the oldest winner of a major. The number of references to Phil as old was pretty remarkable because if 50 is old, what am I at 64? Nonetheless, Phil had a few wise words in the press…

Do you ever find yourself asking these important life questions: What if my spouse or I die prematurely? What if one of us becomes disabled during our working years and is unable to work again? What if one of us needs long-term care in retirement?

As a healthy aging writer, speaker and consultant for the past 20+ years, I’ve spent a great deal of time campaigning against ageism and identifying how easily it can creep into our subconscious and influence personal health beliefs and behaviors…

Two days ago, I received a note from a reader who follows my writing on a couple of different platforms. It caught me by surprise, if for no other reason that it is so very easy, sitting here in relative isolation and still under the corner of the heavy quarantine…