A discussion for people over 60: Let's focus on what we can do

@nanette2022, you have successfully started a new discussion. What would you like to talk about specific to people over 60?

I heard this great article this morning on NPR about, How to crack the code to happiness in the second half of life.
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/16/1080840387/retirement-happiness-social-science-ageing-book
There is a book on the subject from Arthur Brooks: From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

Are you looking for discussions such as this, @nanette2022?

What can we start? What can we do ? aside from listing what we can no longer do, no longer start... Am I the only one at a loss?

Nannette, of course you’re not the only person over 60 who is feeling the loss of what we were able to do in our 20s and every decade forward. But the ability to change and adapt is a gift we’re given.
Accept, adapt and move on, has been a motto of mine since my mid-30s. I’m now 68, been through a battle with leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant almost 3 years ago. I’ve lost most of my family members and a couple of really close friends. Covid has messed up the ability to physically interact with people but I stay connected and active.

My life has changed but I embrace every single day. I mourned for maybe 10 minutes over some of the things I can no longer do. I don’t dwell on the past or what I can’t do. I focus on what I can do and want to do! Then make it happen.

Heck, I was a gymnast, but at 68 I don’t lament that fact that I can’t do the iron cross on the free rings anymore or that I can’t flip effortlessly on the parallel bars, no backflips or cartwheels…unless it’s on the winter ice! 😅

But what I can do is walk 8 miles a day, or grab my paints or read or sew, or ride my bike. I have no limits. I don’t rely on others for my happiness. The only two things over which we have any control are our attitude and our effort.

Sometimes our fear of failure is what holds us back. What is it that you want to start but can’t?

OK, we have some things in common: I walk a lot, 6-8 miles, I do watercolors, I sew, reading annoys me because in my arrogance I always argue with the writer, I do not know how to change that.

Oh I have some writers that get my goat too. What types of books do you enjoy reading which don’t cause such a discussion with the writer?
Switch to fiction! ☺️ Harder to argue with the author.

We have a great discussion group on Connect. “What are you reading?”https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/what-are-you-reading/

Have you popped into that conversation yet?

No; I like philosophical, biographies and religious. I no longer watch the news because I get angry there too... OK, I am perhaps arrogant, but I am French... you do not expect anything less than that from us.

Great discussion topic @nanette2022,

The month I turned 60, my life started a free fall into autoimmune diseases and liver disease, Covid, having to resign my job, transplant, ongoing health issues, and difficulty finding new employment. I’ve been struggling, I think like many as we age, to find value in my life and work. And, discovering the societal ageism while looking for employment certainly added to the struggles.

I am working on a new project to provide training and technical assistance in setting up Community-based On-farm Food Scrap Composting. It involves four farms in Vermont and four in New Hampshire, all in communities under 5,000 in population. We’ve started with meetings via Zoom, and on-site visits will begin in spring.

I’ve been so enthused by the project because all of the participants are young…20s-30s. It’s such a joy to engage with them and to feel their enthusiasm in learning a new skill from us “older experts” (I’m 62 and my two partners are in their 50s). Also, to see their dedication to farming and their communities.

Feeling valued and respected definitely adds positivity to one’s life as we age. Having hope and respect for younger people is also a wonderful thing as our world seems in such turmoil.

My reading consists of medical journals, work related research, and dystopian future novels. Hard to argue with sound research, but good to question sometimes to enhance further research. But, always good to argue dystopian futures in the hopes that they won’t come true!

@nanette2022, I was attracted to this discussion by the over 60 in the title! Oh Yes, I'm over 60, so I began to read. I want you to know that you have made me laugh when I picture you arguing with the writer! Can you believe that I argue an