AGEING - WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT IT?

I have read that Cameron Dias says she is looking forward to getting older. She’s around 35 or so and she is saying things like “I look forward to partaking in that elderly lifestyle”!!!

Good grief, what was she thinking when she said that!!!!!!

And then she goes on to say “I wouldn’t mind being in a retirement village where you’re in a community with people who are like-minded and have the same interests.”

Well, at least she is thinking about ‘elderly age’, I can give her that!!!!

Then I read a lovely report from the BBC News from a conference in 2001 where Professor Ian Philp says ‘sexually active older people live longer and stay healthier than their celibate counterparts’. 

He also said “sex can help elderly people stay healthy like any exercise, yet it seems that the sexual interest remains particularly strong in elderly women” (now what can we do to gee-up our old boys).   And “that married old people tend to live longer than single old people” which instantly seems to me to be a good reason for being married if long life is your aim.

And then there is talk about money. Plenty of money in the bank is also definitely going to keep you alive because “a healthy bank balance is just as important for old people’s health” we are told!

So there you are. You need sex and you need money. Wouldn’t you know it!!!! And like Cameron, you should not mind growing older!!!!

And guess what, there is no point at getting worried about ‘elderly age” because you will most likely be living it!!!!! Yes, you are ageing, and you will most likely make it to this “grand old time of your life” due to new medical interventions and an overall shift in the average life span.

What can we work on now, heeding Professor Philp’s words, just to improve our chances of making it through to 100 or so? 

 

Make sure your partner stays alive or seek out companionship.   Assure that you accrue lots of money so you can get the very best medical help available.  Ummm, who of you can guarantee all of that!!

Look, at the end of the day, what is ageing really all about.

It is about living life, nothing more and nothing less.

 

It is only the media that seem to relish seeing us squirm by viewing older age as though it is an undesired affliction.    They have the ability to have us frothing at the mouths for the elixir of youth and leave us feeling unworthy if we haven’t succeeded in ‘holding onto youthful vitality”. 

 

It is true we cannot retain our firm silk skin, our lustrous hair, our light tinker bell voices to name a few.  We can’t because we are not designed to. 

 

But we can work on what we have, give it the best chance, but then we need to sit back and feel content.

 

Yes, young women and men out there, we over 50’s are getting older, just like you! 

 

We, like all living things, run a cycle. 

 

There is beauty in a young bud,

a beautiful fresh green leaf,

a yellow and orange glowing autumn leaf,

a brown leaf that has the ability to fly

and a leaf than then dissolves back into the spirit of the earth.   

All cycles have their beauty.  

 

And we have to remember we are beautiful at all times.

There is nothing wrong with ageing.  We must not recoil from any of the steps to grand older age as Cameron reminds us.

 

There are so many things to look forward to and the key to life is to appreciate waking up each morning to a fine new day.