Plan to live your one wild & precious life with confidence
If you’re approaching “retirement age,” you may have found yourself reevaluating life. Perhaps asking questions such as:
Where have I been?
How do I feel at this point?
What do I want my life to look like in the future?
You might not be sure how you’re going to spend your time ahead. And that is understandable. As you reach middle age, you realize there is a lot of life still to be lived.
But that defies the experts and their “knowledge.”
Sigmund Freud felt that “old people were no longer educable.” Jean Piaget thought cognitive development stopped in young adulthood, and Erik Erikson only listed one stage (the mature age) for older brains. (He really didn’t research this stage.)
Studies in the early 2000’s, however, show that those in their later years have “greater engagement, more satisfying relationships, new intellectual growth, and more fun.”**
These studies show that older people really do have more wisdom. This is because significant physiological changes happen as you enter your 60’s and 70‘s. You make new connections between brain cells for a more balanced use of both sides of your mind.
These brain changes enable you to be more flexible and subtle in your thinking. Older adults have an advantage over youth in their ability to:
Understand that knowledge may be relative and is not absolute.
Uncover and resolve contradictions in opposing and seemingly incompatible views
See the larger picture (ie. distinguish between the forest and the trees)
These findings underscore the fact that the term “retirement” (which means“ to withdraw or retreat”) is obsolete.
In reality, the years after the age of 65 are anything but retiring. They can be the great adventure for which you previously didn’t have time.
Yet, many people, over the age of 50, feel pessimistic about the future.
A lot depends on outside factors: Will you outlive your money? Is social security still going to be available? How about if you want Medicare benefits?
No one has the answers to those questions.
You may read the news and feel hopeful one day. And the next day it’s all doom and gloom. You can’t control the government, the stock exchange, or even your grandkids.
But you can control your mind.
And with your mind, you will discover solutions that work for you.
So keeping your brain healthy — and understanding how your mind works — are two things you can do.
Come along on this adventure in the last third of life - your time ahead. Learn to keep your brain healthy and your mind sharp. Discover purpose. And develop a plan that includes space for the inevitable roadblocks and dead-ends.
Julie finds joy in helping others achieve their goals.
Whether it’s creating content that converts prospects into buyers… Or finding the right tenants to rent properties… Or helping attorneys defend a serial killer from lethal injection (yes, you read that right), Julie enjoys learning, growing, and challenging her own ideas.
In her early 60’s, Julie is a young Boomer - but identifies as an old Gen Xer.
She hasn’t held a traditional job in 15 years, so has a different perspective on retiring. (She refuses to participate.)
Instead she chases the good life. The full life. A life with adventure, great health, and purpose. And of course, the inevitable side trips.
A life that starts with deciding to age well. And keeping her brain healthy.
Julie has discovered that keeping her brain physically healthy -- and choosing her thoughts carefully -- enables her to achieve her goals and solve the inevitable problems that occur.
If you want to spend the last decades of your life in a different way, Julie invites you to come along on this adventure in your time ahead.
As a life-long learner and self-employed copywriter (who crafted white papers for the health supplement industry), Julie has a unique perspective on studies touting the benefits of supplements and functional foods.
She geeks out on health info and research.
And as a lover of stories, she makes information easy-to-understand and fun-to-read.
In her “not helping others” time, Julie likes to lift weights at the gym, hike the red hills in Southern Utah, discuss good books with friends, and visit family in far flung places (Salt Lake, Grand Junction, the Netherlands).
**Cohen, G.D. (2008). The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain (e-book loc 111). Basic Books
