Healthy Aging

Now that I'm in my 60s and I'm officially retired I realize I'm on the downslope of life! I lost my dad to cancer when he was 80. My mom is 93, but she has been losing her memory slowly for many years. I feel fortunate that she still knows her family but she was recently moved into a new facility for people with memory problems and it's been a hard adjustment for her. Memory loss scares me because I know how much I struggle to remember names, even of people I know well, and the names of students I saw on a daily basis when I was teaching.

I grow quite a few veggies
so eating healthy in the
summer is easy. 

I don't have any grandchildren yet but when they do come along I want to make sure that I am happy, active and ready to care for them and of course have fun with them. So for the past few years I've started to make some changes towards a healthier lifestyle. I've cut way back on sugars and try to eat cleaner foods, I've increased my water consumption dramatically-like from basically rarely drinking water to striving for at least 80oz a day. I've also started exercising on a regular basis. Most of these changes came from joining short term groups on Facebook that focused on these changes for about a month and then a couple of months later the same two ladies would start another group. The groups were no pressure but just gave us motivation, tips and accountability to improve our lives. It worked and I'm forever grateful for their help.

Blueberries were a new addition to our
garden this year.

My next step is look into what else I can do to age gracefully. One thing I heard on a Ted Talk was to learn a new skill to keep the mind working. The presenter pointed out that doing crossword puzzles is not enough. Over a year ago I signed up for  Ben Willmore's Master Academy to learn how to improve my skills with Lightroom and Photoshop. I've paid for it twice and have only watched one video! But I signed up knowing that once I retired I'd be grandfathered into the lowest price and I'd have time to start watching them. Well, the summer is almost over and I haven't watched a one yet! But... now that I know learning a new skill is important I'll be starting next month. I only know the very basics of both programs so it will be perfect for me.


I'm also reading the book Just Sit A Meditation Guidebook for 
People Who Know They Should But Don't by Sukey Novogratz and Elizabeth Novogratz. It's all about getting started with meditation and its benefits so I'm trying to give that a try. I'm far from being consistent yet but it's a new beginning. I'm hoping between exercise, meditation and less stress I'll be able to reduce my high blood pressure meds when I go to the doctor next month.


Feel free to share what you do to make sure you age in a healthy way. I'd love some more tips.