Have you ever thought about getting older? I have. I’ve always said I want to live until I’m 112. Not sure why I got that specific, but there it is. Here’s an excerpt from my journal about it in 2013:
There is a one-woman show in this, somewhere. I will create it every day until I am 112. I have always said I will live until 112. I might be incoherent and suffering from Alzheimer’s when taking the stage at 112 to tell my story, but if there is one thing I am sure of, it’s that I will still be funny, and I will still be present, on some level, every day to see the beauty in the people and the things that surround me.
My Aunt Bess turned 106 this year, and she’s amazing. I couldn’t be in Florida to help her celebrate on THE day because I was across the country speaking at an event, so FaceTime came to the rescue.
She’s going to beat me to 112, and I’m grateful for her example. It’s been said that getting older is simply a state of mind. I believe that’s true.
While we can’t slow down the years chronologically, I believe that we can accept that fate or challenge it with a younger mindset.
If you ask most people who are older or nearing Aunt Bess’s age how old they feel, they respond very assuredly that they’re much younger in their minds.
There’s actually a study of a little more than fourteen hundred Danish people about this question. The coauthors David Rubin and Dorthe Bernsten reported that adults over the age of forty feel, on average, about 20 percent younger than their actual age.
When Rubin and Bernsten explored what might be the cause of this younger estimation, two suggestions surfaced. One was denial, and the other was optimism. I like to think it’s the latter. Mark Twain once said, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.” What harm can come from thinking optimistically about your age? I say none.
Ask yourself what you’re doing mentally to live outside the lines of your chronological age. How are you taking care of your body and your mind? Let’s explore this question in my next post at the end of the month when we’ll talk about my favorite day of the year and why I chose it.
Be positively altered,
Dr. Cindy
P.S. It’s not too late to get your copy of my new book in audio format! The narrator is yours truly, and even my children make a special appearance. If you’re road-tripping this holiday, it’s the perfect download.