Beth Linguri, 74, USA

When I hear Age Esteem what comes to mind for me is to really love yourself and esteem yourself.  Give yourself honor for who you are and what you are, whatever wisdom you have gained in your lifetime, whatever age you are.  I have a number of chronological years.  I’m grateful for them.  I’ve had lots of experience, lots of wisdom, lots of things I have gained during that time to honor and to share.

The concern I have is physical aging.  Any physical manifestations that would get my way of doing what I believe and know that I want to do, have to do. – My mission so to speak.  My chosen mission for these next years is important.  I am concerned about any physical ailment that would stand in the way.  For example I did have severe arthritis in my knee joints which prohibited me from walking or standing as long as I wanted to, so I was able to solve that with surgery.  But anything else that might get in the way is a concern of mine.

Beth’s tips: There are two things that I do.  I pay close attention to my nutrition and I don’t take any medication, only food supplements, and I avoid stressful situations because I feel stress is an unnecessary aging factor.  I like to learn to deal with stress in a positive way.  The other thing is that I do a lot of activity.  I do Yoga.  I walk.  I do a lot of physical activity and mental activity to unify my body and soul and spirit and to allow my spirit to really direct my activities.

I would offer the following advice.   The first is to respect and love yourself.  It all begins with that.  Take care of yourself.  Nurture yourself.  Respect your time and your abilities and be true to yourself.   I think that is so important at whatever age you are.  I think the second thing to do is to live a life of service.  I think once you are true to yourself you know that you have much to give and much to offer, so you share and you find your niche in a life of service to others.
Provide a venu for people to meet in a community to share and to grow in their own true selves and their own spiritual nature.

Beth Linguri will be hosting a conference Aug. 19-21st near Geneva, Switzerland to nurture self and spirit.  www.ThePeaceConference.com

Bonnie Fatio

Lynne Adams, 71, California,  USA

I think Age Esteem means holding in esteem – that it be a positive approach to thinking of aging.  That means aging could be very positive in your life, and I suppose also depending on what your age is.  To me Age Esteem means that you are esteeming age and getting older.

My own concerns with age would be not having good health.  Not having good health can affect a lot of the other things you like to do, like travel.  A real concern is also memory loss.  Sometimes something will come up and I’ll say, “How did I forget the name of that book, or that person?”   So memory loss is fearful and also living alone if I eventually have to.  Right now my husband is in reasonably good health and we are a fairly active couple, but thinking of living alone would be among my concerns.   I used to be very carefree about a lot of things in life, but now worry more than I would have about certain situations and wondering, “Will this person remember what they’re supposed to do?”, or if we’re planning something in an organization, “Will that person carry through?”  And in the family wondering, will my daughter remember to do this or that?  When she married I was concerned about all the plans we had to make.  I would be more concerned about things like that now that I’m older than I ever was when I was younger.  I’m more of a worrier than I used to be.

Lynne’s Tips:  Keeping a healthy body is important, so I am quite active.  I enjoy sports and I enjoy working out.   I try to keep my body whole.  I recently had a groin pull and it reminded me that I’m not exactly a kid any more.  I’m not discouraged.  I want to still stay active and I think that is very important.

Also keep your mind stimulated.  I do love to read.  I still seek more time to read because I am active in organizations and other things, but a real joy to me is to be informed.  I think it is important for a person of any age to know what is going on in the world.   It’s important to keep an active mind.  It is also important in your life to feel that you are doing something beyond yourself.  In place of just things you like to do, reach out to the world around you where there are needs.  I think that’s very important.  Now that I’m a retired teacher I have time to do more of that, especially through my church.

Take good care of yourself, eating healthy, having a healthy life style.  Friendships are extremely important. – To have close friends, but at the same time reaching out, knowing you can still make friends.  Remain active in life.   Seek new ideas.  Know other people and their lifestyles through friendships.

Lynne Adams is an active volunteer with First Book among other activities.

Bonnie Fatio

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

Maggie Dull, 67 ½, Pennsylvania, USA

Age Esteem is to grow old gracefully.  To be thankful for what I have, what I still have left of my faculties and body at my age.

Maggie’s Tips:  I try to exercise. I try to keep my hair looking well and my makeup.  I wear appropriate clothing for my age.  What is appropriate clothing?  I cover up my flaws such as flabby arms, dimply legs, dimpled butt so I have a formal tan up to my knees, up to my elbows and down to my chest.  I try to keep smiling.  I try to smile at people so they feel good about themselves too.  Sometimes they need a smile or recognition that they’re alive.  So I do that and it also makes me feel good.  They smile back.

Keep your mind alert.  Watch the news.  Know what’s happening in the world.  Do some puzzles. Try to stay interested in your fellow man.  Go to church.  Become a saved person.  I think you’re happier when you’re saved.  Happier than when you aren’t.  Believing in Jesus Christ.  That’s sage.

Death is a normal part of life.  We’re all going to do it and I’m ready.  It’s not something that I fear.  I’ve seen too many people who are dying and it’s easier than I thought.  My greatest fear is probably a terrorist coming over here and slitting my throat.

Silvia Glatthard, 80, Swiss

Age Esteem is how you should try to manage your age.  How to deal with your age.  You should take aging as a normal thing.  It is natural to become old and older.  You should not do anything to go against that.  Accept it and just be happy and be thankful all the time.  I try to be like that and I am.

Silvia’s Tips:  Attitude.  This is my nature.  My mother had the same spirit. Just go along and make the most out of every day each day and be happy.  I have good friends.  Where I live everybody knows me.  When I go around everyone call outs to me.  The other side is that everybody knows everything about everyone else, but I don’t mind that.

Alex Stauffer, 67, Swiss

When I hear the term Age Esteem I think in our old age that we should be happier with what we have, including health and wrinkles, and not think “Oh I’m getting old now.” or “It’s too late.”

Alex’s tips:  I would say you have to love yourself and in order to love yourself you have to be in good health, so you need to do something about it.  I know I drink a little bit too much, but I eat healthy, I move a lot, I do my exercises, I try to help other people.  But it’s not always easy.

I’m a little short tempered with people who have health problems because they do nothing about it.  They do nothing to prevent the problems even when they have time to exercise and money to buy good food.  I know it is sometimes expensive to eat good fruit and vegetables instead of junk food, but if you can do that and don’t do it, I have no patience.

Paulette Senior, 48

For me Age Esteem means feeling good about myself no matter what age I am.

A concern that I have about aging is to have someone there with me, having company.

Paulette’s tips:  Keep moving.  Keep physical and keep working on inner self.  Always find a way to be thankful.  Just be thankful for your life, for living and getting up every day and for having a purpose.

Paulette Senior is CEO of the YWCA of Canada.

Carolyn Flowers, 58

When I hear the word Age Esteem what comes to mind is age that doesn’t feel like age.  Although you’re aged, you still have some of that youth in you.

My own concern with aging is to think that somebody will have to take care of me.  I don’t want anybody to ever have to take care of me.
Carolyn’s Tips:  Stay busy:  always learning, always looking for ways to make improvements.  Giving of myself.  I think if you give of yourself you feel good about yourself and when you feel good about yourself you’ll age more gracefully.  I think that whether you’re young or whether you’re old you should always know what your passion is.  You can’t go wrong if you are doing what you’re passionate about.  It’ll keep you young.

Carolyn Flowers is regional manager of the YWCA’s of Southeast U.S.

Jeannie Slaughter, 57, USA

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear Age Esteem is enthusiasm.  I’m fascinated by the title.  Age Esteem is natural for me.  It  follows in every ladder or level for me.  If you don’t have enthusiasm for whatever you do, then why do it?  As trite as that sounds.  Do what you love.

Jeannie’s tips:  Be introspective.  Think about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, if you’re doing it well.  Do you look in the mirror and like what you see?  Not just external, but internal.  It’s all part of being alive and being in the world and glad to be there.  Everyone should serve.  It’s not enough to be good, you need to love what you do and have that service aspect.  Yes, it’s important to be in a position to make someone else happy.