Suppose I told you that my mission was to make the world a better place. This is the not-so-modest mission of AGEIST. The world is aging, and if our world is full of healthy, contributing, and aging people it can be very positive. In order for that to happen, we need a couple of things to occur. First, we need to believe that it is possible to age and be healthy. Secondly, we need a belief that we deserve to age healthily. Having run AGEIST for 9 years and spoken with legions of the leading science and medical people, I am certain we all can have a tremendous impact on our health as we age. It is not 100%; bad stuff happens, but some relatively small changes can make a big difference. The second question, do we feel we deserve this, is harder. That one is prickly for a lot of people, and it was for me.
All this long, healthy life stuff is not just about us. The more power one has, be it physical, emotional, mental, or otherwise, the more we have available to help others. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, as they say on the airplane. I would take that further and, rather than just staying alive by breathing, how can we become stronger? We want to not only be resilient, we want more: to actually grow in capacity and, with that, the scale at which we can be useful.
Think about this: we people over 50 have the vast proportion of assets, abilities, and knowledge. If we are healthy and committed to being useful, that is one heck of a force. We all face adversity, and age can be a daunting one. It will catch up to us all at some point; so what. Just because there has never been a human who has won the eternity battle, it does not mean that we can’t win at aging. Winning is taking care of ourselves, investing in our friendships, our knowledge, our bodies, our minds, and being useful as long as we can. If each one of us could add just 2 or 3 years of contributing life beyond what is expected of us, think of the huge win that would be. To change the world, first, we work at becoming the best versions of ourselves, then the best version of us as a group, and then a better world.
Some say the future belongs to the young. The future belongs to all of us, and we, because of our unique experience and resources, can lead the way. Today I am going to try to get the best sleep I can, get my often aching body to a workout, and probably eat more chickpeas than the average American. I do this not as a chore, but because I know I feel best when I am contributing to others using my best self. That is what rocks my world. What’s your jam?
Onward and upward,
David
