HOW OLD ARE YOU REALLY?

A couple of weeks ago I turned 60. It is a big number. I have thought much about how long I have been on this planet and all that I have learned, and continue to learn. I feel stronger, healthier, wiser, more sure of myself now than I ever have, and it is sinking in that I have actually built the life I imagined long ago. The path to this place was often rocky, confusing, and downright scary, but somehow I got here.

A few days ago a friend posted an article on Facebook which really hit me in the wrong place. It basically claimed that this whole "60 is the new 40" business, is a load of hooey. Her assertion was based on the way she was treated as an older woman. She saw all around her the response to her age in the way she is communicated with, minimized, etc. She claimed that it is irrelevant how you feel about your age, others will treat you like an old person. Therefore this concept is false.

I will not deny that seniors get a bad rap. In general they are perceived to be slower, less intelligent, less capable, frail and fragile. Many people in our culture ignore their elders, or minimize their importance. I imagine many of us have these prejudices because for some seniors the above is true. Our parents and grandparents generations had a much different attitude about health and fitness than we do today, and hence at 80 some are of diminished capacity, often in multiple ways.

But today we know so much more, and those of us 60 plus were the first to have the full gift of this awareness. We now know what foods to eat and not eat. We now know how physical activity impacts every aspect of our lives. We have been given the tools to be healthier and live longer than any generation before us.

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