Proactive Aging – The Familiar

 

 

 

 

What I love about traveling is that just when the familiar starts to get boring you change the scenery and get a fresh look on life. Something about traveling keeps you young at heart. I think it is the sense of adventure that feeds my soul. It is like being a child again and learning something new. Every time I travel I am always amazed at what I learn. Most times I return with such a different point of view.

Most recently I went to Nashville and Memphis. What I found was a slower and a friendlier pace. I had just come from New York where the congestion and noise slightly over whelmed me even though I live in LA. It’s different in New York. Life is moving at a fast pace.

 The people were so friendly in Tennessee. The whole state was so clean, upbeat and vibrant with life. The history was deep. Did you know that at one time Tennessee was the western border line for the U.S.? The heart and soul of American music was born in Tennessee and is still alive today.

But what I love the most about traveling is missing the familiarity of home. It always feels good to get back to the comfort of my own bed, my own tattered slippers and my comfy robe. Back on the couch watching the familiar TV shows appreciating the comfort of home. Traveling makes me feel the youthful tug of adventure and coming home gives me the warmth of the familiar.  That’s why I like to travel. It reminds me to stay open and inquisitive while grounded and secure because no matter where I wander I always know there is no place like home. Want to stay young? Travel because around the corner there is always something new to learn.

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com

http://www.facebook.com/DrLynnAnderson

Proactive Aging – it’s in the soul

 

 

Recently I took a trip to Nashville and Memphis. This part of the country is the heart and the soul of the American music scene. The blues, rock and roll and country music all sprung out of the south. I did the tourist things visiting all the great music museums, as well as Sun Studios where the first blues song was recorded and rock roll was born.

One of the great blues singers was Muddy Waters. As soon as I heard his name I flashed back to my younger days when my ex-husband and I and a group of friends spent hours listening to Muddy Water and the Blues. I suddenly felt very young, hip and in the groove.

I looked around the room and noticed that most of the people on this tour were over the age of fifty. Everyone was nodding and swinging to the small excerpts of music our guide was playing as he told us the history of southern music. We were all flashing back in time.

After this we went to BB Kings bar in downtown Memphis. Memphis Jones was playing that night. He took us on a ride through time playing songs from all the great legends of Memphis blues and rock and roll. Again I looked around. The bar and the dance floor were full of people just like me, fifty and older.

On the dance floor I watched a couple do the jitter bug. They were really good. You could tell they had been doing this for a long time together. The whole place was alive with youthful energy, Good music does something to your soul that electrifies the mind and makes the body get up and dance.

For a short time we all forgot about our arthritis, our aging bodies and tired souls and began to dance, sing and applaud.   Music has a way of making time stand still and agelessness a reality. It’s in the soul!

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com

http://www.facebook.com/DrLynnAnderson

Gum on My Shoe - Proactive Aging

 

 

 

I left the gym today and stepped into hot melted gum that had been spit out and left stuck to the parking, lot.  How rude, I thought, that someone would spit out their gum. The pavement was hot so the gum stuck all gooey mixed with bits of dirt to the tread of my shoe, immediately I thought of Singapore where it is a crime to chew and spit gum in pubic. It should be a crime here in the US, I thought to myself.

Imagine if it was against the law to chew and spit in public. The chewers of the world would proclaim their right to chew. I would proclaim my right to not have the ground polluted with their gooey mess and to keep my shoes from sticking to the carpet of my car.

 Now I had to go home and dig the gum off my shoe. This is an imposition.  But what does this have to do with proactive ageing?

The older I get the more I am aware of how our behaviors and habits can negatively impact others. I think about respect and kindness. I don’t consider the pavement to be my right, but the right of everyone to be able to walk without having your foot stuck to the cement by someone else’s chewed and spat out gum.  Not 3 feet from the place where I contracted the gum was a trash can. Couldn’t the gum chewer at least spat the gum in the trash?

I take the attitude that every little bit that we all do to make the world a little cleaner and l a little better for everyone is a good thing. But some people take the attitude that, well the worlds a mess; I might just as well contribute to it. That seems immature to me.

This is not the first time I have had gum on my shoe and probably won’t be the last. Proactive aging means tolerance, acceptance and respect.  It also means I would like to take this gum chewer and stick hot gooey gum to the soles of his or her shoes and smile as they clean up a gooey unsanitary mess left by someone else.

Proactive aging also means speaking up when something is harmful, disrespectful and downright rude. So to all you gum chewers; it’s damn rude to chew and spit. You’re polluting the environment and you are disrespecting others. If you must chew think and chew at the same time. Swallow your gum and clog your own internal system or simply find a trash can and If you need to spit- spit in the can!

Thank You!

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com

Do I Really Want to Work this Hard? – Proactive Anti-Aging

 

Looming in the background is first retirement and then second that time when I am no longer able to work. Years ago I set a goal for myself and have yet to achieve it. There are many reasons why I didn’t achieve this goal. Some are circumstances and some are my own foolish notions. My goal is still not unachievable. It’s just that I’m not sure I want to work that hard. It is easy to get lazy when you don’t need to survive, but rather can ride on the crest of the good life.

Like many people my age I am beginning to deal with aging parents. I am also trying to help my children with the grandchildren. My husband is retired and pulling me in that direction. But I still have that goal looming over my head. I want to achieve it, but I am not sure I want to work that hard.

Pacing is the magic word. If I pace myself I will achieve my goal. To pace means to take the steps forward with a comfortable stride. It also means to walk back and forth in a state of anxiety.  Stepping in a comfortable stride is exactly what I must do. Pacing with anxiety is not for me; I am too old for that. That would be a foolish notion.

 Life’s fulfillment comes from setting and achieving goals. Satisfaction is wonderful, however it has been said that satisfaction is an illusion. As soon as we begin to feel satisfied we suddenly want more. This is human nature. It is good to desire, but not to obsess. I will keep my goals and work towards them with this in mind; if Mick Jagger can’t find satisfaction, neither can I. It would be a foolish notion to seek satisfaction when being happy with what I have achieved while pacing me to achieve the rest of my goals without the overwhelming need to work so hard should be fulfillment enough.

I am working towards my goal. I am striding not anxiously pacing.  I am not working so hard that I forget to stop and enjoy the moments.   Working too hard is a foolish notion. Enjoying the moments is being happy. That’s Proactive Anti-Aging!

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlyn.com

http://www.facebook.com/DrLynnAnderson

Happy To Have Gained Ten Years – Proactive Aging

 

 

 

 

In my fifties I imagined myself to be thirty-five. I felt thirty-five and somehow lost track of the years that I gained over those last couple of decades. I still did pretty much what I did at thirty-five accept that I was a little wiser or a little more cautious. I could predict things and see things that I would have missed if I was really thirty-five.

Now in my sixties I imagine myself to be forty-five. I really feel forty-five accept for the occasional aches and pains that remind me that I am not forty-five. But I do feel ten years older and am beginning to like being forty-five as opposed to thirty-five.

At forty-five you have a t lot more experience and you start to begin to let go of the angst of youth and embrace the stability of maturity. At forty-five you still look pretty damn good. In fact there are days when you even get mistaken for much younger. I really like forty-five and am so glad I have matured past thirty-five; at least in my mind’s eye.

Twenty years can seem like a long time, but really it goes by in a blink. Suddenly you are a forty-five year old trapped in a sixty year old body. The body and the psyche just don’t fit. So I’ve decide to only look at myself in a darkly-lit room, and fully clothed. I’ll take a brief look at this forty-five year old woman reminding myself that it’s not the body that determines your age. It’s the state of mind and in my mind I have gladly gained ten years and am happy to be forty-five.

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com

Selling My Mini Skirts - Proactive Anti-Aging

 

 

 

 

 

This week I decided to sell my miniskirts on e- bay. They have been sitting in my closet for quite a while. I reckon I will never wear them again. Now is that admitting my age or is that being proactive by letting go of something I no longer need? Some might say this is giving in to my age and others would say I am being sensible. A sixty plus woman in a mini skirt is not a pretty sight although you have to admire a middle age women who has the guts to still wear shorts and miniskirts.

But really now that I think about it, miniskirts never were very comfortable. If you bent over your butt was exposed. When you sit it rides up. When you get up you need to make sure it is pulled down. You can’t run, climb or lounge in a mini skirt. Legs need to be shaved and in perfect shape to pull off a miniskirt. That’s a lot of pressure and not a lot of fun.

It’s not that I’m giving them up because I feel old. It’s that I would rather be comfortable and enjoy my time not pulling, adjusting and worrying. I’d rather admire the young girls wearing miniskirts reminding myself that this time in life is fleeting. Enjoy it while you can, but when it is time to let go sell it on e-bay.

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctotlynn.com

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I Took a Day Off - A Proactive Approach to Aging

 

 

 

About two weeks ago I shared with some of my students that I would love to have a day off where I could stay in my pajamas all day and not leave the house. A set of circumstances happened and two weeks later I found myself a day with nothing on my schedule. Normally I would take a walk and then do some weight lifting at the gym, but it was raining. “How lovely,” I thought, “a rainy day with nowhere to go.” So I stayed in my pajamas until noon. Then I took a shower and slipped into my sweats. I sent my husband out to get a roast chicken at the market for dinner. I didn’t leave the house.

Now I did pause to wonder if this was me getting old and wanting to slow down or was this me being wise. I must admit my body was tired. I have been teaching a lot of classes and working very hard the last few months. The wisdom that comes from learning to listen to your body does come with age. I guess I could say it’s a little of both; aging and wisdom.

I enjoyed my day off, but was up the next day ready to go. There was a time when I would feel guilty about taking a day off. Guilt just got replaced with entitlement. I have earned the right to take a break every once in a while. Aging come faster when stressed and over taxed. Taking a day off gives the body a rest, the mind a chance to refocus and well, does the soul good. Take a proactive approach to aging. Go ahead-take a day off. You’re entitled!

Doctor Lynn

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