Thoughts on My Birthday

I had a birthday last week. I turned 67. Yikes! For the past few days I’ve been thinking about getting older and what it means to be closer to 70 than 60. And since everyone gets older, I thought I’d pass on a few of the things I’ve been thinking about, in case it can help someone out there.

One of the things I’ve realized is that if you are an action-oriented person, it is easy to be in denial about aging. “Age is just a number” right? Well, yes kind of, but bodies age and the world keeps changing, and pretending that it isn’t happening doesn’t do anyone any good. I learned that this spring when I was lifting boxes like I did when I was younger, and paid for it with a week of back pain.

I’ve been thinking about producers as I think about aging…the average age of a farmer in Georgia is 59, and is getting higher every year. Lots of our farmers in their 70s and 80s are working as hard and the same way they did in their 50s. That is great, and praise-worthy…but are y’all listening to your bodies?

To move past denial about aging I’ve decided to ask myself three questions and try to live out the answers.  Here they are, in case they are helpful to you.

What are things I need to start doing, now that I’m older?  Things like exercise to make me stronger and more flexible, particularly in places where I’m getting a bit more vulnerable, like back and joints. Or things like paperwork—checking to make sure my Health Care Agent and Power of Attorney documents are in place, and that I have legal documents for inheritance (I know succession is a big issue for lots of farmers).

What are things I need to stop doing?  This is a hard one. The obvious thing is to stop doing dumb stuff like lifting boxes that are too heavy for me. But now that I’m retirement age I have to ask myself questions about passing along some of my work to younger colleagues. That’s hard, and I intend to keep making meaningful contribution, but maybe it’s time to make a bit more space for younger folks with new ideas.

What are things I need to keep doing?  This is maybe the most important question. In order to age well, I know two things are vital: relationships and meaning. I need to keep doing everything I can to be connected with the friends and family I love, and to keep doing work that gives me purpose. I think this one is going to be tricky…thinking about passing along some work but keeping other work that I think is meaningful and that I find rewarding. For those of you in the midst of this, I’d love to hear how you’re managing this shift.

Taking time to stop and ask yourself these questions during times of transition is important–not just as you get retirement-age, but at other pivot points like when your kids leave home or you move into a new house.

So, given that we’re all getting older every day–What are you going to start doing, stop doing, and keep doing in order to keep thriving?