5 Important Tips to Combat “Well, at your age”

Re-posting…

Rant:

“Well, at your age.” ” If I hear that one more time,” that’s what my mother-in-law Zelda used to say with such drama and sarcasm.  Ya well, I’m beginning to relate.  I asked my 98-year-old Mom if her doctor ever used that phrase?  She said yes he had but only once. How did she get him to stop saying it, I inquired.  “All I said was, how old are you doctor?  He said he was 52. You know at your age lots of things are beginning to happen. Right? Would you like me to remind you of that fact every time I saw you?” While talking to the doctor Mom said all she could think about was that ‘little blue pill!’

Washington Post had an article in the Health & Science section by Steven Petrow called I’m a boomer who’s not yet ready to be old.   Petrow says he’s “been steeped in the stereotypes of what it means to be old”.  The example he gives is  “funny”… “birthday cards that equate being older with being decrepit.” I actually bought a card last week to use in a future blog. I guess the time is now:

Really?  50 for goodness sake!  Think back when you were 50 or headed that way, are you a lot of the above?  I”ll give you ‘squinty’…but that’s all I’ll give you! At 50 I was running 10K’s, traveling all over the world, making a great living at a job I loved, dating and loving life!  What about you? Oh, and by the way, the dwarfs were already 50 when we met them in the 1950’s and they carried pickaxes, got up at the crack of dawn, walked miles to work, hacked into the side of a mountain all day, threw big rocks onto a cart on a rail line and walked home in the dark!

Rave:

Mom says she doesn’t know what 96 is supposed to feel or be like. Case in point, the other day she told me she was a little unsteady on her feet and was wondering if it was possibly due to her age!

A girl I row with said, “you don’t look or act like you’re 72!”  She’s 43.  So, I was going to write another blog about the perceptions younger people have on age and old.  And, boom, AARP publishes a video on-line two weeks ago: “We asked millennials to show us what “old” looks like, and then introduced them to real “old” people. Watch what happened next.” ‪#‎DisruptAging‬  I hope you watch it.  It is very powerful.

I think between today’s Washington Post article and the AARP video, the universe is telling me I’m on the right path with my Rants, Raves and Attitudes!

Attitudes:

5 Tips to Combat “Well at your age”:

• Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!  Just because you woke up and felt achy doesn’t mean it’s over, you’re old! What did you do the day before? Could be more than a millennial did!  Just saying.
• Look at the positives: I find not beating myself up about stupid stuff I’ve said or done is freeing. When I was younger, oh I was so hard on myself. Glad I’m not anymore.
• Take a risk. A friend of mine calls it ‘sampling’.  A neighbor told me he started a drawing class.  He says he’s the worst in the class, but he didn’t care.  Don’t care so much about the outcome. Just try it.
• Seek out like-minded people. People who are positive.  People who are active, whatever that looks like.
• Be proud of where you are: I know I am the best almost 69-year-old person I can be.  Do you? Are you enjoying life to the fullest? I hang out with lots of people who do as much, and some times more, than people younger than ourselves.  I’m grateful I made it here.  So, when someone asks you ‘how old are you anyway?’  say with a great deal of pride, “I’m (state your age).”  It’ll take you back to your teens when you were so proud to say how old you were because you were growing up.  YA, like that!!

Originally posted 2016-04-20 00:05:30.