DO means DOn’t regret the Past,
RE means Raise your hopes to last.
MI means Meet each day with Glee,
FArther than the eyes can see.
SO much to love just waits to bring
Tra LA LA to those who sing.
EsTEem your Age, be brave and bold
DO RE MI FA SOL LA TI DOld
Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®
Patricia Lake, 65, PA, USA
When I hear the term Age Esteem I think, ”I just age”. It is just a word. I don’t feel myself as old. I may be 65, but a lot of days I feel like I’m 40. I feel that I have the esteem to go with my age. Then there are the days that I feel like 90! It depends how your body feels. But since I started at exercising at Silver Sneakers I feel a lot better. I quit smoking, too, so that helps.
Patricia’s Tips: I just take one day at a time. I have to for the situation that I live with. I have to take one day at a time because I don’t know what the next day will bring. I try to live for that day and be happy. I don’t like to dwell on things that are bad. I’d rather think of positive things.
Just be happy. Life’s too short. I try to practice that. It doesn’t always work, but I try!
Anne-Louise Sterry, 60, Oregon, USA
The first thing that pops into my head when I hear “Age Esteem” is, oh my gosh, instead of thinking that old people are useless we’re going to look at people who are older with a sense of esteem.
What concerns do I have about growing older? Actually concerns about aging just popped up for me when I turned 60. One is a sense of anxiety that I don’t really have so much of my life left, and if I haven’t done what I wanted to do when I am I going to do it? I better get to work!
A second concern is that I’ll never be able to retire. I ought to be able to, except for the fact that I love what I do so I wouldn’t want to stop. – But then when is the time that you can relax? My father used to say, “You can relax when you’re dead.” So that is a concern. And of course there is the sagging of the body bits. I’m not so happy about that.
Anne-Louise’s Tips: I wake up in the morning and I try, especially if I am at home, to spend some time writing. One of the things that I write at the top of my page is the type of day I want to create. I often write that I am creating a day of joy and focus, or I’m creating a day of joy and love, or I’m creating a day of patience. That actually carries me through my day.
Laughter is a really good thing. Laughter makes you feel good.
Exercise. You’ve got to get outside and walk. You have to do something to get in the fresh air, something to move your body. My husband and I ride bikes. I try to walk, especially since I turned 60. I’m a new 60 and I’m struggling with that a bit. It just seems old though I don’t feel old. It is just the number. I would like to change the number to have more years left. I work on staying present and not future tripping or past tripping. Both are useless.
When my parents were 60 they were old. They weren’t out; they weren’t walking; they weren’t running; they weren’t doing things with their bodies. So I guess I still see that as what 60 is supposed to be like.
When my Grandma was 60, she was a little old lady. I think it is just an idea; it is just a concept that we need to change. We need to change the concept of what 60 means. Then I have a husband who is 65. How did he ever become 65?
I’m a young old person so I don’t have very many tips yet.
Anne-Louise Sterry, aka aunt Lena, speaker, author, performing artist www.Anne-Louise.com
P.S. This interview wouldn’t be complete without a photo of Anne-Louise as aunt Lena, who is full of age esteem!
The Best Days For Living
If you esteem others’ age, and your own,
Your Life’s meaning will have gracefully grown!
You will make every moment a specialty feat
And you’ll take time to froment each day as a treat.
Why linger on aging? Think, it’s bound to become.
The best days for Living, for Loving, for fun!
Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem.
Anandi Smith, 23, British & Nepalese
Age Esteem is definitely a positive message on how you deal with getting older. It’s for all different ages. When I hear the word it’s not just based on older people or younger people. It’s for all ages. You don’t lose your esteem simply because you get older, provided you have esteem.
Anandi’s Tips: I think mainly is to have good role models in people around you. Obviously the media tells us that you’ve got to be young; old is bad. I study the media all the time and they put this picture in your head of what you have to be. No one really celebrates being older. There also seems to be a gap. It’s good to be 25 and then you’re respected after you’re 40 but that gap in between is not celebrated. You have all these expectations: You have to have a boy friend, to get married, to have kids and a career. There seems to be no celebration of this in between age, especially as a woman. For example, if men haven’t gotten married in that time, their main focus is on their career. If you’re a woman and have a good career at 25 you still aren’t fulfilled until you’ve ticked all the other boxes. But then once you’re 40 you are old enough to be respected because of your age.
I look at my mom who just turned 50 this year and I can see that her peak in career is actually now. Mine is just beginning and is just as exciting as hers, but I can see that the older she’s getting the more clever and intelligent she’s getting. She’s wired. Her career is moving. I respect my grandma a lot. She is on fire. She knows everything that’s going on in the world. She was one of the first teachers in the northeast region (England) that taught computers and she was very career ridden, which in those days for a woman was quite strange.
I’ve been surrounded by older women that made me think positively about getting older. I do have girl friends who are younger than me and I learn from them as well. Their generation is different from mine. They’re quicker than I am. You can bounce off ideas and experiences with other people who have a whole different knowledge. But role models for me are generally older than me. There are lots of women who I want to be like when I reach their age. I want to have their attitude and their energy.
Susan Barber 65
Esteem means to honor and so I’ve always esteemed age. My grandfather was mayor in Birmingham and he was my great model. Three of my dearest friends, my dad, a friend in India and another in New York all lived into their 90s. And I held the hands of two of them as they passed on, which I understand is a great gift because it means that they chose you to be the passage to heaven.
I’ve never been very involved in age because I’ve always felt I was very old, even when I was five. I’ve never understood people who say what number of years people are because you can find 35 year old people who are seemingly dead to living and some friends 89 I know are very active. AgeEsteem seems to bring great respect. This seems to be something that is not very strong in America. I was admiring Madonna the other day because she’s doing a book now because she’s 50. She’s saying that Americans don’t think there’s life thereafter.
Susan’s tips: The people I know who are in their 90s and very alive and very active love this life. They love young people; they love to learn; and they all have religion as a very integral part of their being, Christianity, but it could be any religion. So those are the inspirations for me every day. What I can learn in life and who I can learn from. Who I enjoy as people. I think we have to live with society. Of course we all wish for good health because that is a pathway to aging well.
Susan Barber who resides in New York specializes in marketing European hotels.
