Value & Purpose: Where Are They In Your Story On Aging?

In A Long Bright Future Laura Carstensen talks about rewriting the story of aging, making age a thing of value and purpose rather than something to be avoided. We all tell ourselves stories, and those stories shape our future behavior. “I don’t want to get old.” “Old is a matter of how you feel.” “I’ll never be an old lady. I plan to go to the gym and work out every day. I’m going to stay young.”

Sure, go to the health and beauty aisle of your favorite store and load up on those anti-aging products. Eat the right food. Exercise and get enough sleep. Go ahead and fight aging with everything you’ve got. If you’re lucky, you’ll still wake up old one day. I think that beats the alternative of dying young. One thing I wonder about: why fight it? Why not embrace your years, the wisdom you’ve gained, the memories of your accomplishments, the lessons of your struggles?

Who are you today? Who are your parents, your elderly neighbors, the slow moving elderly person blocking your grocery shopping by shuffling at a snail’s pace down the aisle with a shopping cart that makes it impossible for you to pass? Can you imagine them to be people of great value? If you were to invent a story about them, one in which you cast them as heroes, what would that story be? I challenge you to find this story and make it a part of how you view aging and how you live your life.