From Linda Priestley, Editor-in-Chief
In this issue, autumn gently makes its presence felt—the year is aging gracefully. We can do the same, in spite of various challenges, whether it’s the effects of inflation or coping with the death of someone we love. By focusing on the positive—an armchair visit to Scotland, improving our sleep, even cute fall boots and the latest hair trends—we can live each day to the fullest.
More and more, studies on age and aging involving participants at different life stages show two things: (1) the age at which people begin to think of themselves as old varies depending on their stage of life—it’s around 60 for 20-year-olds but 70 for 60-year-olds—and (2) people tend to see themselves as being about 10 to 15 years younger than they really are.
These studies reveal a third and even more important truth: being young at heart is highly beneficial for physical and mental health. That might seem obvious, but we forget it sometimes. We need to remember that there’s more to life than age—friendship, love, family, plans…. All you need to do is look through the pages of Good Times to see that we’re all curious, creative, and self-assured. We enjoy cooking, managing personal finances, meditating, travelling, getting a massage, celebrating birthdays, and even losing our jobs and reinventing ourselves as if we were in our 20s!
In our heads, we are ever young. The British philosopher Francis Bacon put it this way: “To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.”
Aging gracefully is something we can do in an active way every day.
Photo: Laurence Labat
