Aging Well?

Thank for the positive thoughts. I’m 79 alone for the first time since my husband of 58 yrs together died a yr ago. Dealing with loneliness is big. The evenings are the worst but I’m very active. I hike I volunteer. I coffee 3 times a week. I go to the gym. I’m social. Love being with people. Trying to stay positive is hard. And staying in the present is important. Life is what you make it. And working on a positive attitude is key

You have my sympathy on the death of your husband--my first husband died when I was 41, and the grief was almost physical--so painful. Your attitude is great! I'll add that I was in a grief group for about a year and it helped because it was a once a week place where I could express my feelings without burdening anyone. Will be thinking of you.

Thank for the positive thoughts. I’m 79 alone for the first time since my husband of 58 yrs together died a yr ago. Dealing with loneliness is big. The evenings are the worst but I’m very active. I hike I volunteer. I coffee 3 times a week. I go to the gym. I’m social. Love being with people. Trying to stay positive is hard. And staying in the present is important. Life is what you make it. And working on a positive attitude is key

Seems like you are taking really good steps to live as well as possible after a major loss. Thanks for re-inforcing things we all must try to do, each in our own way.

I think I qualify as aging well. Very shortly (the 27th) I will turn 91 years old. But in my head I am still 40 or 50. I do not have any signs of dementia. My husband died four years ago. We were together for 62 years and that is/was a blow from which I will never recover. I do not have any major physical illnesses. I do not live in pain. I am able to live independently in my own home and do everything I need to do for myself. I just had my driver's license renewed. Because of the magic of cataract surgery I can see fine and am able to drive without glasses. I realize I am extremely fortunate. However I also realize that for many years I was a racewalker. I had a full-time job and a family, but every evening after work I stopped at the track and did 3-4 miles of racewalking. I continued until I retired at age 67. We moved and I started to just walk. I never smoked and drank only on social occasions. I have never been particularly keen on sweets so didn't consume a lot of sugar. It is my belief that all of this is how I am the way I am at this great age. I had to have major surgery for an ulcer in my early thirties. I remember that my doctor told me that everything starts in the gut. We didn't hear much about that then. But it stayed with me always.

When you are elderly and live alone and have out lived family and friends, you need a reason for tomorrow. Mine are pets and gardening. I will try to get the fall vegetables to survive the winter and prepare for the spring and summer crops (winter sowing).

I just read a little squib that kind of addresses this... "Be the oldest person in the gym, not the youngest person in the nursing home."