Welcome to Age Life Balance!
Maybe I’m unusual but I often think about retiring and growing old. Not in a morbid way, but more around all the things I plan to do with my life when I eventually have more time. In fact, I don’t just think about it – I visualise it.
I see myself walking in the countryside: sometimes alone or with others, sometimes with a dog. I see myself bustling around my kitchen cooking wholesome meals and treats for those near and dear. I also see myself enjoying being part of a wider community into later life. Although I can visualise these clearly, I now know that this is not easy to articulate.
I wonder how many of you have a vision of your own future – however this may look. This is obviously something completely personal and your vision could look similar or very different to mine.
Lately I’ve been thinking about this more and more, partly as I’m not getting any younger (are any of us?!), but also in light of the ageing global population and the pension and health care crisis in many developed countries which are frequently brought to our attention via the media. As I’m a pretty pragmatic person, I don’t plan to leave my future to chance if there is any way I can help it, so I’ve started to ask myself some questions.
How can I ensure that I’ll have the health, fitness, finances and relationships to support my vision?
I don’t have a crystal ball and no-one can foresee serious illness or freak fatal accidents, but putting these aside, is there anything that I can do today to influence my future life?
Well, I’m an optimist and I believe that I can influence my future to enable me to achieve what I set out to, especially given the years I have ahead of me. In fact, I believe that most people can positively influence their own lives with the right knowledge and insight, whenever they turn their mind to it.
I believe that with a combination of personal vision, some lessons learned from older generations and experts in various fields such as health, fitness, financial planning etc., we can all make some long-lasting positive life changes. If we can share and learn from others along the way then this can only multiply the positive impact and enable others to benefit too.
Via the Age Life Balance blog, I intend to explore a range of topics which will help us all target a better holistic future, or at least give us food for thought. This is something that I’ve become increasingly interested and passionate about and I hope this will come through in my writing. I aim to introduce the following topics at a high-level before delving into them in more detail over future blogs:
- Mind
- Health
- Exercise
- Financial security
- Youthfulness
- Interests
- Travel
- Accommodation
- Practical matters
- Community
- Work
You can learn more about me here. I’d love to hear about your own future visions, or aspirations, and any topics that you’d be interested to learn more about.
Thank you for reading. For more interesting articles, visit my blog at www.agelifebalance.com to learn more.
I’m happy with my current life, as happy as I’ve ever been, if not the happiest. I’ve been luckier than I deserve with regard to health, education, finances, family etc, and have no major aspirations for the future (other than to be able to maintain current lifestyle) and no major regrets about the past (other than hurting other people, not doing any particularly interesting things when younger, not having any particular skills or expertise etc !). I also think I’ve made some reasonable decisions which have led me to where I am now. I didn’t plan my future when I was younger, and I’m not sure I would advice younger people to do this now. If too prescriptive it could lead to disappointment. However, it might be useful to imagine yourself as an older person looking back at your life, and ask what you could do now to make sure that looking back would provide pleasure rather than pain.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. I’m sure that your active lifestyle has played a part in your good fortune.
I’m so thrilled for you that your vision for educating us about maximising the quality of our lives in older age has now got a life of its own! I’m looking forward to being further informed on the things I already have some awareness of and also on the things I didn’t even realise I should be considering! I wish you every success with your blog.
Thanks Sara – I hope you enjoy the journey!
Never really been one to think to far into the future, well not my own. I feel healthier and fitter than I’ve ever been in my life. I think turning 40 a few years ago and having a young family to support makes to you think a little more about looking after yourself.
Having a stressful job and family life doesn’t leave much time for yourself, but these things make it vitally important to ensure you make the time. To look after the family and support them, you need to look after yourself. That said I do miss my Saturday mornings in bed ?
Thanks Marc. I’m sure your family will benefit from a fitter, healthier you too – now and in the future. Keep up the good work you have started.
Great work, good luck with the Blog! We took a huge leap of faith and massively re-adjusted our work-life balance a few years ago with absolutely no regrets. With so much future ahead of us (hopefully!), increasingly we can see the importance of ageing ‘well’ becoming a much bigger focus. All tips and inspiration welcome!
Thanks Richard – I admire the big step you guys took in buying the station and it seems to be working well for you. I know you still work hard, but I’m sure it’s so much more rewarding working for yourselves.
Your introduction outlines my own dreams and expectations of old age. It is a pleasure to read.
I too have always been a pragmatic and positive personality, always enjoying life and the company of my friends and family as often as possible.
Over the last couple of years I have not made the time or had the energy to spend with the people I love. I channeled what little energy I had into my work, ignoring the need to understand ‘why’ this had become the norm.
I remember not wanting to burden my friends and family and carry on regardless, making the odd comment to my nearest and dearest “I feel so old”…
I missed my old life but was accepting at 49 this was nature’s course and to stop moaning!!
In my mind I would make time for the things that I find fulfilling, exercise, nights out, weekends away, holidays. But I was beginning to ACCEPT my dream of an active and exciting old age was not to be.
I crashed!!
It turns out I have been ill and too busy to listen to my body. I have been isolated for 8 months now and unable to return to work. With nothing but time on my hands to re-evaluate my future, finances and the frailty of the body.
Luckily a week ago I was diagnosed with the root cause of my conditions and it seems there should be a quick fix for my diseases after all.
So in my usual pragmatic and positive manner I can begin to dream of a long and exciting old age again.
I suppose the moral of my little story is, DONT ACCEPT you are getting old. LISTEN to your body it could be trying to tell you something like “you do not have a proper work life balance, do something about it before you get ill”. Seek help and confide in your friends and peers if you are unable to confide in your family.
I look forward to hearing more from you and your readers x
Thanks for the encouragement and sharing your story and great advice too. It’s really nice to see you back at work on your phased return – well done Christine!
Well done! Such interesting subject matter. I look forward to reading more about it.
Thanks Beck
This is fabulous – brings together so much of what so many of us are thinking and feeling as we approach new and exciting stages in our lives. Will be great to share thoughts and ideas around like-minded people who wish to make the most of everything, and to feel support for those times when things inevitably get tougher – hopefully for short periods only. LOVING IT!!
Thanks for the encouragement Jennifer, I hope you continue to enjoy it!