When I hear the term Age Esteem I think of the value that older people can bring. – And that would be from the experience that they bring.  If I think personally I think in my life I’ve done many interesting and very different things, and the nice thing to do would be to pass that on to other people.  Of course we do pass them on to our children, which is actually quite difficult.  Often the children don’t appreciate your experience and they don’t really want to listen; but eventually they get to the age when they do.  I have constantly reinvented myself I think. Whatever I started out doing when I left University at 22, I’ve used that experience but I don’t do the same thing now.

Helen’s Tips: I’m very into what I eat and I eat very carefully.  I’ve trained myself to eat carefully.  I make sure I always do some exercise because you also feel better if you do exercise.  And when I get up in the morning I like to have the lot of my day planned out.  I like to know what I’m going to do.  That for me is my raison d’être, my purpose.

I like to think young but I like to look young as well.  I like to keep abreast of fashions.  When I was growing up in the UK the saying for ladies who dressed slightly younger than their age was “mutton dressed as lamb”.  I love to be a mutton dressed as a lamb and I enjoy people who are dressed a lot younger than they probably should be dressing.  Just because I am my age I will still occasionally wear high heeled shoes or platform shoes if I like it.  I will tailor my look for the fashion of that season and I will always buy new clothes every year.

There is always something new to learn and there is always something new you can be doing.  I’m training my mother who’s 81.  I just persuaded her to buy a laptop and I’m training her on how to use it.  She’s a bit nervous about it but we’ve got the email sussed (figured out) and while I was training her I thought, “Oh, I wonder, when I am 81 what will there be new for me to learn at that age?”  I think I will be up to learning it.

I was trained as a designer but didn’t paint for years.  It was only recently that I thought, “Well I’m not going to go down in history as a graphic designer or a trainer but maybe I can carve myself a small niche as a painter.”  I’ve taken on the new challenge of showing my paintings.  I’ve got three expositions coming up and I’ve just hired myself an agent which I think is a wonderful idea.  I hate selling my own work.  If someone else can do that for me I’ll be quite happy.

Helen Drew is a trainer, graphic designer and watercolorist.  Her exposition at the Gallery Chausse-Coqs in Geneva, Switzerland will take place December 5-23, 2010.

Do you feel like you’re walking a tightrope with all that you have to do and want to do?

Balance your life: Happy people tend to have a balance among exercise, healthy food, positive relationships, adequate sleep, and their main activity (studies, parenting, career, etc.).

• Take a tough look at your own balance. What works well? What is missing? Prioritize the activities you want to build into your schedule.
• Choose priority one to begin this week.
• Decide how to build this activities into your life. Will you drop or reduce another activity? Will you get up earlier? Stay up later?
• Act on this priority to put it in balance with your other activities. As soon as it seems to be in harmony with the others, move on to priority two.