The age proposition is a simple one. If you’re breathing, you’re ageing. Like death and taxes, ageing is one the few fundamental facts of life, so we may as well look it in the eye and make the best of it.  If we can do that, chances are we’ll do it well and have some fun along the way.  This is the age proposition.

The increasing longevity of humans in the western world is a great achievement of the 21st century – of our improved nutrition and safer work practices, of increasing scientific knowledge, and modern healthcare services and practice. This achievement should be respected and celebrated.  But it’s new ground and we are still finding our way.

In this blog, I want to explore issues around growing older and ‘old age’, asking the question: how can we age really successfully?

How does advancing age affect who we are, how we live, what we do and how we are perceived and valued?  What are the ingredients to living well during these last decades of our lives?

We need to think about these questions for ourselves but also in the context of the kind of society we live in – or would like to live in. Are we happy with the way older people are valued in our society or would we like to see some changes?

Why is it that being ‘old’ carries so many negative connotations and practical imputations in everyday life? More to the point, when are we actually ‘old’ and how is our ‘elderliness’ relevant, except in arbitrary contexts where cut-off ages must be defined; and then why are these definitions necessary?  How should we be referred to when we reach that ‘certain age’?

This is a space for exploring all our expectations and experiences as we move into our 60’s, 70’s, 80s, 90s and beyond. Like every decade, these years are for living, bringing with them new opportunities as well as challenges for growth, development and contribution.

As Mahatma Ghandi famously said, “you must be the change you want to see in the world.”  Let’s make that change an adventure.