Sixty is the new 40!

I have been celebrating all year, celebrating turning 60. It started with a wonderful cruise of the Baltic with good friends, which I wrote about back in June. It  continued with a ’60s and ’70s themed party and today I had a lovely lunch with my gang of  retired teachers, where we congratulated each other on being fabulous and amazing for our ages. Only one of us has YET to reach the magic age.

 

I have never been a woman who worried about growing older and have celebrated every new decade with gusto. Age is only a state of mind and in my head, I am still a young one.  See the photo below in my ’60s gear.

Whatever your age, some of what I have to say here will resonate with you. In fact, the younger you are the better; the older you are, there is more of a chance that you know this anyway, so I may be preaching to the converted.

Laughter is the best medicine

The most important thing to keep as you grow older is your sense of humour. I laugh a lot….not a good idea if you are worried about wrinkles. I surround myself with positive people, people who grab life by the proverbials and enjoy every moment. I have a wide circle of friends who love life and even in the midst of tough times, are game for a laugh. GG can be the cause of much of my mirth too;  he still makes me laugh (with him and at him); we laugh at each other, I guess!

 

A friend in need…

Good friends are also a necessity and come in many guises. Some you rarely see, some you see often, some you lose touch with for a while and some are on the periphery of your life. All are important and should be valued. Of course, if you have people in your life who are always undermining you, or who are never there for you, they are not friends. Dump them. Simple as that!

It is vital to also have friends who are a good bit younger than you are. You can give them the benefit of your years of wisdom (assuming you have gained any wisdom!) while as you get older, they can be useful for things like driving you to and from the theatre or a spot of retail therapy! Being in the company of  even younger people helps to keep you in touch with all the latest fads and lingo, even if you don’t understand most of it. I actually enjoyed teaching adolescents and loved their enthusiasm and energy. Staying in contact with many of my former pupils has been an added bonus. And my girls definitely keep me young.

 

Health

I have always tried to maintain good health and take care of my body, but as the years advance, I have had to rely on some trusted professionals to look after the aches and pains. I have written about some of them before: physical therapist Andrew Smith and Patrick Leahy from The Laser Clinic, but I also attend Lisa, a holistic therapist who uses her range of skills to keep me healthy and well. However, she deserves her own future blog post all to herself!

 

New Challenges

Since I retired, I have taken up golf and learned how to play bridge and, of course, started this blog. The blog has certainly been the most challenging, not least because I used to be a technophobe. As well as getting my first laptop, I have learned to type with two fingers and how to upload and edit my own posts.  My family gave me a present of ‘The Ultimate Blogger’s Box’ for my recent significant birthday and included in that was a new, supposedly idiot-proof Canon EOS M10 camera, which I am now learning to use. There is always more technical stuff to get to grips with and so the challenges continue apace.

2016

This has been a busy year. The elder daughter has bought a house, got engaged and had a beautiful baby. The stylist has probably had her busiest year to date, with a huge number of shoots at home and abroad and designing her first boot collection.And I too have been busy. On my cake top below, produced by GCakes (www.facebook.com/GCakesbyGoldie) you can see the various elements of my life including references to the blog, bridge, golf, walking and, of course, baby Logan.

My Top Ten Tips for enjoying Life at any Age

1. We all are aware of the saying “Life is not a dress rehearsal”. Live every moment as if it is your last.
2. Keep active. I am of the ‘use it or lose it’ mentality.
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
4. Try to relax…this is something I have to work on.
5. Count your blessings ….family and friends and, in my case, a new grandchild.
6. Get pleasure from the little things. A cuddle in bed, a walk along the coast, a cup of GOOD coffee or a glass of wine with a friend solves some of life’s problems.
7. Be a ‘glass half-full’ or even ‘three-quarter full’ person. Nobody likes to spend time with negative people, unless they are extremely witty or deliberately cynical.
8. Take positive steps to stay physically and mentally healthy. In my case, exercise in any form helps with both.
9. Explore at home and away. Sometimes the prettiest of places are just down the road and don’t require a huge outlay.
10. If you can, have plenty of sex. Look back at number 2. It will help with numbers 4,6 and 8.

 

 

Do I want to be younger? No, but I do want to stay as healthy as I can without giving up too many of the good things in life, such as bubbly, gin and a good wine (and not necessarily all together)! And I would be lying if I said that I didn’t want to look as young as I feel, but as that is impossible, I will settle for looking good “for my age”, whatever that is!