Philip Hardisty,  57, British

I think Age Esteem is working at your passion.  At the moment I’m concentrating on my painting career.  I have a business here in Geneva (Switzerland) but since I moved here it hasn’t really gone in the direction that I had wanted.  As I graduated as a painter and I’ve always  played with it over the years I think that I’m at a time of life where if I don’t go for it now, then possibly I’ll  never do it.  I think there is always something pulling me in that direction so that is the path I am trying to follow.

Age isn’t something that you really think a lot about until you become older.  I think that possible concerns for me are going to be health and how to survive, obviously financially, physically and like that.  I think these are probably the main concerns we become more aware of as friends become older, you become older, and your body doesn’t quite work like it used to. – All those sort of things.

Philip’s tips: For me it’s all mental.  If you think young you stay young.  I have a mother who is now 84.  To look at her she probably looks as if she’s in her late 60’s early 70’s and I think that it is all to do with mental approach; it’s a mental attitude.  Obviously you can’t control what happens to your body.  If things go wrong, things go wrong, but if mentally you have a young, positive  outlook, that to me is most important.  Try to be optimistic.  I think it gets more difficult to remain optimistic about things as you get older, but if you can remain optimistic it plays an important role.

I think it’s very important to have a passion.  Again these are things that you think about when you get older.  We only have one life so it’s very important to try and do the best we can to have a passion about what we do because you can’t go back.  It’s no good to go back saying, “I wish I had done that, etc.”  So if you have a passion it makes your life more pleasurable and you go on a bit longer; you enjoy achieving.

Philip Hardisty’s paintings can be viewed on appointment by contacting www.hardistyint.com.

The Blewfield Clan

What a wonderful time post retirement seems to be for the cousins at the reunion in Paducah.   Everyone seems to be developing or focusing on genuine  interests.  And varied they are!

• Suzanne, who still works part-time in a law office  is submersed in the family genealogy and can trace her branch back to the Mayflower several times.  She is now writing a book about it.
• Bill, who is a retired professor and Fullbright Scholar, lives with poetry and has one of the best poetry resources, www.unf.edu/mudlark/
• Doreen complements working part-time as a mentor to student teachers with her passion for theater and acting on the local stage.
• Don “recycled” to become a pastor and acts as interim minister to congregations.  He also lives his passion as a cookie creator at the local bakery.
• Rose and David sold their house and now live in a motor home to experience new places across the nation.  Rose is a writer and David a photographer and using these passions.
• Gerard focuses on renewable energy and is sought out as an expert to speak and advise.   He also volunteers on clean water projects in Africa.
• Jeanie continues to nurse ailing birds, something that she has always done and is not ready to leave.  She loves what she does.

And this is just part of the cousins!

It is never too early or too late to develop your interests and passion.  It is an important aspect of personal age-esteem to love what you do.  It is a real elixir to building confidence and feeling vital.