Bringing it Home: Aging

grandma's hands slept in church on sunday morning grandma's hands played a tambourine so well grandma's hands used to shut out a warning she said grandma's hands, Bill Withers I am familiar with Bill Withers yes, bringing it home with Sarah and Tennille I think we've got good memories of grandma's hands yes, definitely yes, and grandpa's hair yes, yes, so yesterday was Halloween yes, you know I love it I don't even have to ask how your weekend was I'm so mean not going to ask how it was so things probably were a little scary for Halloween but we're going to talk about one thing today that is not scary it does not have to be scary and that is aging that's something we're both doing all of our listeners are doing it whether they realize it or not they are aging I've already had my birthday this year it's November so you're getting ready to have your birthday this year and you know the CEO of AARP her name is Joanne Jenkins and she has written a book about disrupting aging okay and she has reminded us that we spend more time over 50 than we do in our childhood oh wow you think about it you know 18 years approximately or whatever well like with the lifespans that people are having now you may spend more than that over 50 which is awesome it's awesome but I think we need to talk about some reasons why aging does not have to be scary yes I think aging now is very different than even a decade or two ago oh my gosh the stereotypes are so outdated because seniors and there is some flexibility on where they even start okay we ain't talking numbers today about where you begin to be a senior but many seniors are they're healthy they're active they're engaged in their communities they're online they're independent it's not the stereotype that we used to think of no like it's not sitting on the front porch in the wrap and tear days on end uh uh tell me your parents your parents are in their late 60s late 60s okay and I'm so proud of them because they have really in the last couple of years decided how they want to age okay and how are they aging I swear they're going backwards okay they changed um just some of their habits like eating healthier they're so active um my parents attend yoga and if you know my parents my mom probably went to college now that is new they didn't like do yoga when you were growing up or do all these things no they've been doing yoga um for a couple years now did it at home during the covid when the gyms were closed and everything um but they're very active twice a week in a yoga class they love to hike they are traveling they've taken some big trips they have another one planned um for next year and I couldn't be happier for them yeah so so they are definitely active and engaged my mom she has another birthday coming up this month actually she's in her mid-70s she's been retired for quite a while now but up until this fall she raked her own leaves she sets out flowers in her flower band every spring um she helps to take care of other people seniors she provides rides for people that need to go places she's on the go and recently a couple months ago she got her first smartphone I could not believe it so you know a lot's going on you know it's not like it used to be no and I love it yes I do too and I feel like more seniors are aging like our parents are yeah you love some inspiration huh yeah it's 100% I think it's great Joanne Jenkins like you referenced earlier she talks about how as we age yes we may need to make adjustments you know but it's like modifying a bike for those two younger guys you start with a tricycle right oh and then we want to make sure that as we I guess move up in the biking world here as we age oh we don't want to run out of gas you know that's true that's true and you know she talks about how it's socially acceptable to make those modifications for younger so like if your kid's too little to ride a bike you give them a tricycle well as we get older and we can't necessarily get out of the vehicles as quickly and easily as we used to or get out of the tub as easily it's okay to make adjustments for that too yes you know making vehicles easier to get out of you know grab bars when we need them making your home where you can stay in it independently longer that's not a bad thing no no that doesn't have to be scary that's just something that we definitely need to expect that we won't be able to do all the same things one day and to play for well honestly our listeners don't know but you know my husband and I have done some major renovations to our house and we actually made some decisions based on this thought like while we're doing this now if this is going to be where we want to stay forever what are some things we can do now that can help us stay here longer yeah yeah and we're already in our 40s but we're thinking about that already yeah definitely want to do that and you know what problem we run into a lot of us age mindlessly and think about this in our younger years we make a lot of plans it starts when we're in childhood we think about what you want to be when you grow up then what college do I want to go to and then we start to think about planning weddings and careers and having kids we're full of plans when we're young then we start looking forward to retirement we may or may not have some of those conversations spoiler alert we do but what do we plan after we retire that over 50 that we're going to spend all these years hopefully God willing what do we plan for that right because a lot of those years we'll be spending retirement hopefully yes and a lot of people don't plan for those things we don't look forward to that part of our lives when you should because hopefully by then if you know you've made plans to save money and pay things off and you can kind of be free to do what you want to do like right now you know where you're going to be at 8 o'clock most mornings when that time comes you can be here where you want to be in the bed you can be in the bed you can be out hiking like you're doing yoga I love it yeah you could be no so it's good to consider what do you want to do after retirement yes don't just dream about that day and then not know what you want to do I love to we talked about this how active it seems like the older generation is now in taking care not just of their physical health but also their health care you know taking care of themselves day to day being self-managers of whatever condition they have you know blood pressure diabetes whatever there's a lot yeah because we talked about our parents and some of the things that they do to disrupt aging but they have some issues they have to deal with you know and all these things have to be managed but you don't let them stop you no you don't have to actively manage it right and some things you can let you away with if you become an active manager and you know it's also encouraging to see older people take control of their conversations with their medical professionals too you know if you're in conversation with you're not just there for your checkup you're not getting a lecture about life you're asking questions and being a participant and making plans and you know it's so important for us to go to the doctor at all ages but especially as we age we know that our risk does increase for certain health conditions so we need to be checking in and showing up at the doctor's office a little bit more often and be active in us and what they're asking us to do in the management of that at home yes we certainly do and one of the good things about aging now we've got a whole lot more choices Sarah about where we're going to age because there are lots of communities of living instead of communities of aging and I'm going to bring this up as an example you know I got a chance to go to a facility in Middle Tennessee not that long ago and this particular facility was talking to a group of us about their admission requirements it's an independent living where you have your own apartment and everything this place is gorgeous I'm talking like tennis courts and I thought I raised my hand and said why are you accepting 40 year olds into a senior living facility she said we're an active facility and so our residents come here maybe they got to the point where they don't want to have to worry about cutting grass anymore or they don't want to have to worry about certain maintenance around the house and they want to be in a place where that's handled for them wow or I think about people that may travel a lot for work yeah that's always going to be taken care of so they do trips they have all these amenities and yeah that is a living facility well I'll share a personal example too and I don't think they would mind but my aunt and uncle made a big decision to relocate from a facility like you're talking about near some family my aunt and uncle are but they will never have to leave this area it's got the single homes you know they've got I think there's just a two bedroom it's huge like kitchen several bathrooms it's really nice homes and then if the need arises for them to need more care well it's on site all the way up to nursing care wow right so they made the decision to go ahead and move there and they're walking it's kind of like you were saying there's walking trails there's all kinds of trip opportunities an active community yes gym you know they take trips all the time and it's just they love it they're really thriving there and it's just nice to know that whatever their needs are going to be they're going to be able to be met there these options just did not exist oh in 10 years no they didn't so there are a lot of options as far as where we want to age right I love that you know retirement is changing a lot of people are may retire from the place they've worked at for a long time but they're still looking for something to do whether that be volunteering or working another job you know maybe it's something they've always wanted to do and they go do it so I finished my job job I'm not going to do like my dream job yeah or you know just something fun you know to allow them to stay financially independent I love the statistic that you found that half of Uber drivers are over 40 I mean I can see that I can really see that so yeah so you retire and then go drive something that you may have had interest in or something that you've always wanted to do well I tell you Uber driving is going to keep you social so I guess maybe they're meeting people and talking to people I'm sure it's not boring right I have a friend at church that's about to retire and she she can drive for Uber? no but she knows that I work with some volunteer agencies she was like I know when I retire I want to volunteer several days a week so give me some information on who to contact with these places I'm like that's great she's like I want to do this and I'm looking forward to giving back and volunteering gives you that flexibility that working your full time job doesn't give you again if you don't like being anywhere at 8 o'clock guess what you don't have to volunteer at 8 o'clock exactly so that's flexibility I love it I do too and you know one thing that we've got to do is to save money for the future that's what's going to give us options you know if we're living longer that means we're going to need funds longer so the two kind of go hand in hand and you know we've got to think about that and save and invest and you know if we're on a job that gives us options to be able to save or match something we want to take advantage of that oh 100% for sure so that it won't be scary when it's time to retire so planning we talked a lot about planning it comes back to that but I think it's great I love seeing the change in I guess the stereotypes really and as we continue to age I know we're going to have a good time we're going to enjoy it every step along the way we encourage our viewers to do the same thing so let's make sure we understand Halloween scary aging not scary okay that's the point of today so here we go thank you for listening to this episode in the words of Bob Marley live the life you love and love it like you live happy November everybody