Paul Ernest Charles Mastromatteo, 55,born in Toronto, Canada; naturalized US citizen

My first thought when I hear AgeEsteem is esteem, how you feel about yourself.  So when I hear Age Esteem I overlap that with age and self.  I take it as how you feel about yourself regardless of the age you are.  Age is first older, like aging.  I think if a person has age esteem they feel good about themselves whether they’re young and lively or older and spry.

With respect to aging there is always the issue of how you maintain your health because things happen at 50 that generally don’t happen when you’re 20.  You want to be sure that things are ok.  I mean, we all kind of plan on having an average life span, but not all of us get there.  It gets a little more complicated when you get to midlife, two thirds life and so on.  So that’s a concern, and sometimes you wonder about what would happen if I got arthritis or something and couldn’t swim or run or walk as much as I used to. – Just the simple everyday things.  These things become more possible as you get older and you have to be mindful of them.

Paul’s tips: I’ve always been pretty good about trying to stay fit.  I can’t say the same for this year; it’s kind of fallen off but I hope to get back to it.  I’ve been a runner and a swimmer for most of my life.  Whether it’s my metabolism or what, I’ve never really changed weight and that’s not something most people can say.  That might be more of a blessing than anything else.  I think that staying active is a good thing to do;  it has helped me stay in shape.  I like to think that I can still do a lot of things that I did when I was younger, I’m  just not as fast.

I would say it’s important to be balanced.  Keep your mind and your body active.  Be open to learning new things.  It’s kind of easy to say “I’m a certain age and will never be able to learn a new language”.  I heard recently one of the best ways to keep your mind active is to learn a new language.  It keeps your brain growing and developing.  Just staying close to people you care about.  Make sure you stay in touch.  It’s easy today with the internet, Skype, and everything.  So take advantage of those things. You can be in touch with someone every day who is thousands of miles away.  Not like in the old days of pen and pencil.  That’s meant a lot to me.

Paul Mastromatteo is presently completing his MBA at Thunderbird University.

Bonnie Fatio