Author: Bob McMillan

As seniors, most of us have seen many lifestyle changes during our own lifetime.

It’s interesting to note that as seniors, we are living in a totally different world environment than we did when we were younger.  We are also living a totally different lifestyle than our parents lived.  My parents came of age in the 1920s and 1930s.  I was born in 1940. They went through what was known as the Gilded Age filled with prosperity and plenty, to the depression where my Grandfather traded his dental services for chickens so his family could eat.  Most of us went from the post World War II era of austerity to the massive shift in prosperity and stability of the Eisenhower years, and then through the instability of the 1960s and early 1970s when we experienced many changes in attitudes and worldviews.

Our youth are going through another major lifestyle shift and we are riding the wave along with them.  Changes in technology are exponential.  Major changes in the workplace are occurring that most of us are only beginning to understand.  The industrial revolution that fueled the prosperity of the past has shifted to other areas of the world and the “grow up, go to college, get a lifetime job, and retire on your 401K” attitude has nearly passed.

In one way, this gives older adults a huge advantage. It gives us an advantage based on our experiences in life that younger people haven’t gone through yet.  The industrial age has ended and the age of new and constantly changing technology and opportunity is here.  Our kids, and now our grandkids, are being brought up with an entirely different database of knowledge, ideas and opinions.

Some see change like this as disruptive and bad.  The job market has changed right under our noses and we are not even noticing it.  We have gone from an era of basic jobs for life to more of a “project based”  entrepreneurial style job market.  People change jobs and change fields several times during their adult lives.  Personally, I think this is a better way

For seniors, a lot of this can be uncomfortable.  But let’s reframe it.  Our kids have more opportunities to create and thrive in the world than at any other time in history — if they recognize and take advantage of the opportunities.  If they think in terms of the old style economy, they will have real challenges.  Most young people will have to create their own job market through innovation and independent thinking rather than just fall into an already created market.  Since many of the major Corporations are moving overseas, due in part to Government policies and taxation, the field is wide open for individual innovation and opportunity.

This gives seniors a HUGE advantage.  We can be the leaders and the teachers.  Sure, our grandkids may have to teach us how to use our smartphones, but we have so much accumulated experience of life, that all of us have knowledge others would pay to learn.  Seniors don’t have to retire, we can create an entirely new industry of our own.  What a great opportunity.

So rather than sit back and talk about how the world is passing us by, we can be part of a new trend in active living through sharing and teaching our own experiences and knowledge.  And the more we participate in the world, the longer we will be useful to others and to ourselves.

Just a few random thoughts. Thank you for reading.

This past Sunday, my wife Edie and I traveled to Wild and Wonderful West Virginia to attend an 87th birthday party for our friend Ruth (real first name only). We met Ruth and her late husband over 40 years ago and have been friends over the years. We hadn’t seen her for a while.

Ruth looked great — slim and trim and mentally as sharp as ever. She opened her birthday presents with the dexterity and enthusiasm of a six year old, and read her cards like she had the eyes of a twenty year old — no glasses and no contacts. She read the handwritten parts too.

Six months ago, Ruth fell and broke her hip. She was wearing high heels at the time and the doctor told her that she would never wear them again. But she told the doctor what he could do with her high heels, and she was wearing them Sunday at her party.

The doctor told her that because of her age and the severity of her fall, she would have a slow and drawn out recovery. But she told the doctor that she had a wedding to attend in a couple of months and she was “damned if she was going to walk down the aisle with a walker”. She didn’t. She didn’t even use a cane. The doctors, as well as her family, were totally astounded at her recovery.

Last week she was out walking and she fell again, in the middle of the street. Someone came along and helped her up. She brushed herself off and walked home. She said she hurt her shoulder and her side was sore, but that was it.

What’s the secret of Ruth’s dynamic recovery and the personal energy and vitality she exudes?

As far as I know, Ruth was never an formal exerciser. But Ruth never slowed down. She was and is always moving, doing something physical, and you couldn’t slow her down if you tried. Perhaps she has slowed down a little now, but if her attitude and demeanor are any indication, she won’t be slowed down for long. If her daughter hadn’t told us, we would not have suspected a broken hip and a second fall, all in just the past six months.

Ruth is also feisty and opinionated. She has always been demanding of herself. She was raised on a farm in Virginia and did the hard farm work as a child. She never let up on herself and has continued to be an active and difficult taskmaster, even now at age 87. She just recently retired.

Ruth will be moving in a couple of months. Not to an assisted living community, but to a nice independent apartment. Her daughter and son in law are moving to North Carolina and they are taking Ruth along. Ruth said at first that she had no intention of moving. She finally relented, but only with the assurance that she could have her own independent apartment or condo.

Ruth is a prime example of a person who is her own Fountain of Youth. Statistically, most of those who experience a fall and broken hip at age 86 don’t last much longer than six months after the incident. Her attitude toward life is as positive as I’ve ever seen, and I doubt if she will ever stop physical activity. Ruth should be an example and an inspiration for all of us as we move into and through our senior years.

Will we be there for Ruth’s 100th birthday? We’re counting on it.

Thank you for reading.

I am a senior.

I buy “senior coffee” at McDonalds and Starbucks.

I take advantage of senior discounts at the movies.

I get the AARP rate at hotels.

I’m neither ashamed nor embarrassed to be called a senior.

I have seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

I’m proud of my age.  Sometimes people are amazed when I tell them my age.

I also accept that as a part of getting older, I’m going to have some stiffness, some aches and pains, arthritis, and have to get up once or twice in the middle of the night to visit the bathroom.

Can I minimize these “symptoms” of getting older?  Yes.  Can I eliminate them? Probably not!

I do know that I can do more than I think I can – I have proved it.  It’s part of my reality. Bruce Lee, the martial artist, actor, movie producer and philosopher (he majored in Philosophy at the University of Washington), was asked by a man: “How can I get my legs to move faster?”  Bruce Lee’s answer? “Move your legs faster.”

The same applies to anything we want to do.  We just have to do it.  It may take a while to progress to the point where we can do whatever it is we want to do, but, if we try, try again, and try a little harder each time, we can do it – we will do it. And the more we do it, whatever “it” is, we will get better and better at it, and it will become easier and easier.

Getting older can sometimes slow us down, but it can’t stop us. As long as we continue to move our bodies, eat healthfully, breathe deeply, get plenty of rest and sleep, and take charge of how we sit and stand, we will be active seniors, longer. That’s a reality.

Thank you for reading.