Speaking as an 82-year-old, I am not sure that people in their 50s – or even in their 60s – can imagine being truly old. You know it is coming and you suspect you won't like it, but it is hard to get beyond that. Personally, I love being old and wouldn't go back (perhaps to my 60s, when I had more energy) and although I had very meaningful work all my life, I find life more meaningful now. If anyone is interested, I wrote a book about liking being old called The Granny Who Stands on her Head: Reflections on growing older, the first part of which is the same as my Substack title. What do I like? the confidence, the total sense of self, the wonderful relationships with grandchildren and stronger relationships with other people, including my husband of 60 years.
Hi Ann, you can speak with such wisdom, I can’t truly imagine myself in 15 years’ time? Do you think it is better to look forward in stages – maybe just 5-110 years into the future so it is not such a big leap. Its lovely to read that you find life more meaningful now and how blessed you are to have strong relationships. That is such an important aspect of staying healthy in later life.
I am no expert at all, but I am a reflective person and have been writing constantly about being old for nearly ten years now (I write for an online magazine called Sixtyandme.com), which is a lot of writing.
Even five years is damn difficult at any age. But particularly so in older age because you don't know how your health will be or that of your spouse, and that is crucial. Also, you take one step and that leads to something else and it is all so unpredictable. To give one example, I started writing for sixtyandme because I thought it would help to sell my book, Celebrating Grandmothers. It turned out that it didn't lead to a lot of sales, but it led to me really finding a voice via blogging, which led to my writing my book about being old, which led to my having my Substack which isn't famous but has a lot more subscribers than I would ever have predicted. Which has led to a lot of interviews and people like you taking my views seriously. Could I have predicted any of that? NO! And the older I get, the braver I get. Even my adoring husband said he was surprised, for instance, by this interview (not cross, just surprised) https://debbieweil.substack.com/p/on-savoring-old-age-writing-and-sex
Just to add another thought, while I appreciate the idea of helping people to plan for a fulfilling retirement – and, at a minimum, you can put the idea of the possibility into people's heads – it is so hard to take into account the complete serendipity of life. A chance encounter leads to a new interest which can lead to a complete change etc etc. And you don't know beforehand which of the odd events will prove fruitful. I wrote a post on this called 'Counterfactuals' and it has been in my mind because my grandson is starting his A levels this week. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/counterfactuals
Good point, we need to be aware for opportunities, to be open for side tracks and interesting exploration but witohut any thought we can drift, or, as I find with some of my clients, just continue to work as we can't think of anything else that is meaningful.
That's one of the things that I llike about getting older - become fearless and brave. Through my research, I found that so many researchers write about older people at 60 and beyond as if they are one age, which is crazy. I see the young-olds (see my previous article - https://rethinkingretirement.substack.com/p/how-old-is-old as very different to people a generation older, and it is probably only now (or in the past couple of years) that I have really been thinking of myself when i am unable to continue with my current life. But I dont intend to be disappointed, but to say, hello to the life I am and the changes.
Speaking as an 82-year-old, I am not sure that people in their 50s – or even in their 60s – can imagine being truly old. You know it is coming and you suspect you won't like it, but it is hard to get beyond that. Personally, I love being old and wouldn't go back (perhaps to my 60s, when I had more energy) and although I had very meaningful work all my life, I find life more meaningful now. If anyone is interested, I wrote a book about liking being old called The Granny Who Stands on her Head: Reflections on growing older, the first part of which is the same as my Substack title. What do I like? the confidence, the total sense of self, the wonderful relationships with grandchildren and stronger relationships with other people, including my husband of 60 years.
Hi Ann, you can speak with such wisdom, I can’t truly imagine myself in 15 years’ time? Do you think it is better to look forward in stages – maybe just 5-110 years into the future so it is not such a big leap. Its lovely to read that you find life more meaningful now and how blessed you are to have strong relationships. That is such an important aspect of staying healthy in later life.
I am no expert at all, but I am a reflective person and have been writing constantly about being old for nearly ten years now (I write for an online magazine called Sixtyandme.com), which is a lot of writing.
Even five years is damn difficult at any age. But particularly so in older age because you don't know how your health will be or that of your spouse, and that is crucial. Also, you take one step and that leads to something else and it is all so unpredictable. To give one example, I started writing for sixtyandme because I thought it would help to sell my book, Celebrating Grandmothers. It turned out that it didn't lead to a lot of sales, but it led to me really finding a voice via blogging, which led to my writing my book about being old, which led to my having my Substack which isn't famous but has a lot more subscribers than I would ever have predicted. Which has led to a lot of interviews and people like you taking my views seriously. Could I have predicted any of that? NO! And the older I get, the braver I get. Even my adoring husband said he was surprised, for instance, by this interview (not cross, just surprised) https://debbieweil.substack.com/p/on-savoring-old-age-writing-and-sex
Just to add another thought, while I appreciate the idea of helping people to plan for a fulfilling retirement – and, at a minimum, you can put the idea of the possibility into people's heads – it is so hard to take into account the complete serendipity of life. A chance encounter leads to a new interest which can lead to a complete change etc etc. And you don't know beforehand which of the odd events will prove fruitful. I wrote a post on this called 'Counterfactuals' and it has been in my mind because my grandson is starting his A levels this week. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/counterfactuals
Good point, we need to be aware for opportunities, to be open for side tracks and interesting exploration but witohut any thought we can drift, or, as I find with some of my clients, just continue to work as we can't think of anything else that is meaningful.
That's one of the things that I llike about getting older - become fearless and brave. Through my research, I found that so many researchers write about older people at 60 and beyond as if they are one age, which is crazy. I see the young-olds (see my previous article - https://rethinkingretirement.substack.com/p/how-old-is-old as very different to people a generation older, and it is probably only now (or in the past couple of years) that I have really been thinking of myself when i am unable to continue with my current life. But I dont intend to be disappointed, but to say, hello to the life I am and the changes.