I’m a member of an on-line writing community called SoulCircle hosted by Beth Kempton on Substack.  This month she invited musings on the topics of aging, which sparked these thoughts:

 I’ve never been this age before, and I’m doing it in a new place. It’s going quite well. Is this place different, or am I different?

Six months on from leaving Chicago for Dublin Ireland, I’ve essentially been rebuilding my day to day social connections from scratch, and it has led to interesting observations on aging. I am 67, and the bottom line is this – these women I am meeting are inspiring me and kicking my ass in all the right ways. I am likely idealizing. I ask myself daily, is it really different here, or am I different here, having started with a clean social slate and an urge to connect?

I am sure there is angst and frustration about the body’s condition, but the bemoaning and belittling of self is kept to a minimum. For sure, it’s not stopping anyone from wearing whatever suits, jumping in the pool or the sea, riding a bike, lifting the weights, rowing the boat. I am sure there is loneliness, but everywhere I turn there are clubs and pub meet-ups and welcomes extended to newcomers, and community is formed, often across the generations. Day trips are planned, concerts and plays and lectures attended, classes taken, and new skills learned. I am sure death is an occasional specter, but I’ve been told funerals are, or should be, good craic as well.

Defying aging seems to be more about taking simple action consistently rather than taking out a credit card for the latest potion or procedure or following the latest perfect hack. In fact, it doesn’t feel like it is about defying aging at all, just a practical acknowledgement that some things need to be done to maintain quality of life as long as possible, and some things need to be gracefully surrendered.

(First published on my Substack: )