I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE...

This may be older news to you and I did read it earlier, but it is so perfect for today.

I am exhausted with younger folks, those below 60, saying "how do you do it?". Really?

I make a choice every morning to get out of bed, put on my big girl pants and my moving shoes

and face the day. It may not be the day I had planned for last year in my optimistic New Year

planning, but it is a new day in 2022 and deserves all my attention and energy. I can't waste time

worrying about how to age gracefully or how to act like the media perception of an older woman.

I have to get living and moving. It's my daily meditation - how to live my best life now, while I have

choices. My choices. Not my family's, my doctors, my lawyers. Mine.

I do not remember, ( yes, that is a sign my mind is so full of information that sometimes I misplace some),

where I read this but Steven Petrow gave an interview about his new book and this was a part of it.

He speaks to me, and I think all of us who are working at being active, virbrant elders.

"When author Steven Petrow was in his 50s and his parents were in their 70s, he began to see them making quite a number of decisions that he thought weren't in their best interests. He started to make notes, which led first to a New York Times column (more on that later) and now a book: "Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old: A Highly Judgmental, Unapologetically Honest Accounting of All the Things Our Elders Are Doing Wrong."

“I'd say the second theme within all of this is that being older is very different than being ill, and many people are confused about that. They seem to think they are one and the same.

Elder is a life phase. It's like being pregnant. It's like being twentysomething. It's another life phase. That's great. Being ill, that's hard. That's a disease. They're not the same. We tend to think that they're one and the same.

I'd just like to address the theme or the chapter 'I Won't Let Anyone Treat Me with Disrespect.' I think it's so important for people who are fifty-plus to be recognized, to be lauded for their experience, their accomplishments, their generosity of heart and not to allow themselves to be put down or to be isolated.

And oftentimes that means standing up for yourself, finding your voice, expressing it. It's a challenge.

All of these are challenges. It makes a such difference as to how we feel about ourselves, and then how we will be seen by loved ones, by community members.

Also, you get to a certain point [where you say] I'm not taking any more crap.”"

And I think this supports creating your Last Gift Box. You are in charge. You know what you want. You know who you want to be intimately involved in supporting your choices. You and I and the rest of the adult population need to act like adults. It's hard work. And we can do it.

Let's pledge 2022, that is beginning with a feeling of dread as Omicron rages and more pull back from social events occurs, will be our year to speak our truth, put it on paper, wrap it up and present it to those we deam worthy of our gift. I can see the smiles and feelings of relief our kids and family and friends will have as the unwrap YOUR Last Gift Box.

Cheers!