I am trying to “young it down”. Or, in modern parlance, #youngitdown. Never think like an old person. Never. Look at the young. Study the young. How they dress. How they act. How they talk (well, not that!). What shoes they wear. How they style their hair and do their makeup. You may not adopt each and every one of these lifestyle elements but you should not ignore them either. Make them your own. More about this as I do my First Foray into Fashion and First Foray into Makeup. I still have a lot of thinking and planning to do for that as it requires a certain amount of self-analysis. Translation–I might actually have to take a photo of my aging self. Scary. Bold. I’m not there yet.
But you may see that I will broach these subjects in the abstract. Such as….How to Make Yourself Look 20 years Younger by Shopping at J. Crew or Anthropologie. Or…. How to Make Yourself Look 20 years Younger by Spackling Your Face with 3 Different Primers from Sephora. Just kidding. As I said, these blogs are still in the planning stages.
I do want to talk about books that I read and listen to. Audible.com changed my outlook on exercise AND “reading”. I found as I got older that when I read (always after work, always when I was ready to go to sleep and always when I was nodding off), I could only tackle less than a chapter before falling asleep. And then came MEtirement. One of the really positive things about that is GETTING YOUR DAYS BACK. I mean, really getting your days back. And reading during the day is one of the great benefits of MEtirement.
As you know from reading this blog, I really stress the “turning over a new leaf” when you have the opportunity to do so. All life changes mean that changes are possible. Some good. Some bad perhaps. But having more time to read and exercise is certainly an advantage of MEtirement. So, if you combine them (and I don’t mean trying to read an actual book while walking although I do see crazy brave people reading on a treadmill which I find scary!), what do you get? You get Audible.com. So many unabridged books that make you want to walk and walk and walk. Trust me.
There is a real relationship between having a great book to listen to and your drive to go out and walk. In fact, many days, if I have picked the right book that I really enjoy, I can’t wait to get to the gym or outside (when we are not in Arctic Freeze).
One such book is Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld. Laugh out loud funny. Charming. Old fashioned with a modern spin. Just like MEtirement. Older in people years but young at heart, mind and soul. This book is just so clever. The dating scene is modern, revolving around a TV show like The Bachelor but the relationships are not in the modern dating sphere. They are old fashioned “courtships” in every sense of the word. The parents are from a different generation–mired in their ways, confused by the antics of their offspring and the five sisters are all just too funny.
I have come to the realization (probably should have done so before I started writing this blog!) that READING BLOGS IS NOT JUST FOR THE YOUNG. Those who are MEtired are every bit as computer savvy as the millennials. We just don’t brag about it as much! I realize now that those that read this blog span generations.
While I was thinking about the newly retired when this first began, I found that people of all ages understood the concept of being at a crossroads or at the threshold of a new life, whatever brought them there. Marriage. Divorce. Illness. Retirement. Moving. So in creating this Lifestyle Blog for an Enthusiastic Retirement (that is, MEtirement) I am grateful that what I write seems to strike a chord in many diverse generations of readers (including my BRAND NEW INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS)!! So all you older folks who are doing crossword puzzles and playing bridge—put all of those things in mothballs and read or listen to Eligible, get out and exercise, and put a new spin on your life. Everyone around you will notice your enthusiasm as well! Keep moving. Keep reading. Keep laughing out loud.