Learning.
Vitality.
Entrepreneurship.
Fitness.
Volunteerism.
Teaching. New Career.
As 20 and 30-somethings, we thrive on these things. Now picture your grandparents. These words are probably not the first words that spring to mind.
2014 NJSCPA Convention speaker Kelly Ferrin asks
What’s Age Got to Do With It? and gives the definitive answer in her book.
As a gerontologist, Ferrin has studied aging for 20 years, learning from the lives of everyday people and celebrities who have achieved and maintained healthy and active lifestyles as they age. Growing older and retirement is not about slowing down, relaxing, and stepping back from participation in society. Ferrin profiles 70, 80, 90, and 100+ year olds who prove that growing older can be filled with tremendous experiences and joy from involvement with one’s family, friends, favorite pastimes and community.
Senior Moments
Ferrin inspires readers with stories of seniors who volunteer in hospitals and schools, teach aerobics and other wellness programs and pursue new pastimes such as basketball, surfing and waterskiing. Others have become entrepreneurs and have successfully started new business ventures and one even lived in a college dorm in his pursuit of higher education. Further proof that age is simply a number comes from these senior celebrities.
- Bert Morrow. At 69 Bert began hurdling. During 14 years on the international senior track and field circuit, Morrow won hundreds of medals, including 10 world championship golds. The world’s oldest hurdler died at 97 in 2010.
- Dorothy “Dodo” Cheney. Dodo won her first tennis championship in 1938 at age 22. She continued to play into her 90s and has amassed more than 380 US Tennis Association National Senior Titles.
We’re All Going To Get Old
Ferrin frames her stories of men and women seniors who continue to live life with vigor and excitement with interesting and relevant facts and figures about the growing senior population. Did you know there are 65,000 centenarians in the United States and this population is expected to double in the next ten years? The 85+ age group is the fastest growing segment of our population. As we age, decisions we make about our lifestyle, such as living environment, exercise and diet play a significant role in long and healthy aging. In fact, 70 percent of the aging process is based on lifestyle and only 30 percent on genetics.
What to do Now
Our daily choices play a significant role in achieving longevity. Ferrin highlights what researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered as specific strategies that help decrease health issues later in life:
· A positive attitude
· Healthy eating and drinking, in moderation
· Continually stimulating our brain
· Maintaining relationships with family, friends, and loved ones
· Incorporating daily physical activities
While these strategies seem fairly straightforward, it can take quite a bit of persistence and dedication to incorporate all five into our lives on a daily basis. However, Ferrin demonstrates only those who consistently made these five components a priority in their life achieved older age in a healthy and active manner.
Stay Forever Young
As a young professional, we’re not really thinking about aging. We’re focused on career, family, friends, education and work/life balance. Growing older? That comes late. Right now? Life is full of choices and opportunities. But Ferrin makes it clear: The choices we make throughout our lifetime play a critical role in active and healthy aging.
Well into his 90s, TV personality from the 1950s and 60s, Art Linkletter was described as having “joie-de-vivre,” or “joy of life.” Ferrin’s book encourages readers to maintain that joy as we age by identifying the things we are thankful for, sharing our gifts with others, spending time with family and friends, finding a passion, learning new things and pursuing our goals. Living a long and healthy life is about seeking balance and moderation, maintaining a positive attitude, and being open to change and new experiences. As a young professional with dreams and goals, that sounds good to me.
Christine Hogan is an Internal Audit Specialist at Plymouth Rock Assurance in Red Bank, NJ. She read and reviewed What’s Age Got to Do with It? Volume II by Kelly Ferrin because she is very interested in the field of aging, including strategies for setting and achieving goals at any age.
Christine graduated cum laude, with Baccalaureate Honors Program distinction, from Rider University with a BSBA in Accounting with a concentration in Fraud and Forensic Accounting and a Spanish minor. She is currently pursuing graduate studies at Monmouth University. You can contact Christine at chogan@plymouthrock.com.