Longevity Aging Crisis or Golden Opportunity

[Music]

[Applause]

thank you

have you ever had a passion that pulled

you forward in a way that you couldn’t

explain

my passion is working with older adults

i love hanging out with people in their

80s 90s and 100s and i’ll tell you where

that came from

growing up i lived in a

multi-generational home and my

grandmothers were my best friends

one grandmother was born in england and

she was raised on philadelphia’s main

line she was a sophisticated beauty

queen who’d served tea in the formal

living room and asked me questions about

current events and the books i was

reading

now the other grandmother was a church

secretary from jackson mississippi

and she was as wide as she was tall

and we’d cuddle up on the couch together

and we’d watch soap operas and we’d talk

about the drama of my young life

her tea was sweet tea which was

basically sugar water with a little tea

stirred in

now these vastly different women had one

interesting thing in common

both were tragically widowed in their

50s

and forced to recreate their lives

and they did so living magnificent lives

well into their 90s

and what i didn’t know at the time

is that they were laying a foundation

for my future in a way that i could not

have possibly imagined

now as a young college student my

grandmothers encouraged me to go for my

dreams so i did i wanted to be in the

fashion business

and so i worked for 20 years in all

different aspects of fashion marketing

and it was really fantastic a dream come

true

eventually i landed with a company where

i had an office in la and a showroom in

new york we opened 100 stores around the

united states and 40 markets around the

world

literally it was a dream come true but

after a series of layoffs at my company

my name was called and then i found

myself just like my grandmother’s forced

to recreate my life now at the time my

grandmothers had both died as well as my

parents and i was volunteering for a

local hospice as a way to give back

to the people who so freely gave to my

family

and there was also a friend who was

encouraging me to pursue senior care and

senior living as a career

now i didn’t know that was possible

because i thought it was just for nurses

but i did my investigation and i called

on my grandmother’s resilience spirits

and i dove headfirst

into this brand new career that i didn’t

know anything about

and in my research i found that there’s

over 700 million people globally that

are over the age of 65.

one half million of those people are

over the age of 100

and here in the united states we have 10

000 people

every single day that are turning 65

and by 2050

we will have

one in every five people 20 of our

population will be over the age of 65.

so

i was a trendsetter then now i’m a

trendsetter now

and what’s interesting

is that i found this love in this

passion and this is what i was seeking

this is really what i needed

and so

as i was diving into the senior care

industry

i worked in every aspect of the industry

from assisted living

all the way from hospice from home care

and really was able to pursue and learn

this industry from the ground up

and in my career i’ve had a privilege of

working with over a thousand older

adults

and what’s interesting

is there are some people that are doing

a great job with their longevity you

know what we have is people are retiring

at 65

but they’re now living one two three and

sometimes four decades longer and some

people are doing a great job with it but

other people are really struggling

there’s sort of this ambiguity about

who am i supposed to be and what am i

supposed to do in this time frame

and you hear people say things like i

don’t know why i’m still here

and as our southern friends would say i

don’t know why the good lord hasn’t

taken me yet

and what happens

is they’ll stop living

well before their life is over

and it’s as if modern medicine and

health education have created this new

age stage that is yet to be defined

and so in my work with older adults

i’ve been able to support people and

their families during this time frame

and i don’t see them as little old

ladies

or little old men

i see them as social pioneers that

they’re trailblazing this way for us

that has never existed in human history

and this inspires me

in every aspect of my life

and what i’ve learned from them are six

really important principles that i’d

like to share with you today

and the first of those is purpose

we have to have a purpose as human

beings

every bit of us wants to be a beneficial

presence in the planet we want to know

that our very beingness matters

and i have a client named art

and he moved in reluctantly

very reluctantly into senior living with

his wife and soon after she died

and here was art stuck in the place that

he never wanted to be and he realized

that he needed to find a purpose or else

and this guy decided that he was going

to be a part of the landscaping crew

and so he took on in his scooter

and he took on all the landscaping guys

and he provided beauty for all who walk

the gardens

the next principle

is attitude

a positive and optimistic attitude about

life

dr joe dispenza teaches people to rewire

their brains

so a grumpy old man doesn’t have to stay

that way unless he wants to

and he has that right doesn’t he

so in rewiring our brains we can

actually through meditation and positive

imaging

and future forecasting we can rewire the

neuropathways of our brain

and so as i was looking at senior care

and senior living as a career i started

to think about how i would want to be

treated as an older adult

and the one thing is i never wanted to

be marginalized or patronized as this

little old lady and to have people bend

over and say how you doing sweetie

right

ugh

it’s like i’m an adult

and i started to envision what i wanted

to be

and i like to think that i’m a cool hip

chick and i still am going to be a cool

hip chick no matter what age i am

right

[Music]

[Laughter]

and i even came up with a name for

myself i called myself a goldenista a

fashionista in my golden years and i

like that

and

and it’s taken on this whole sort of

image of who i want to be it gives me

something to aspire to

instead of something to dread this is

that principle of attitude

and the next is lifelong learning

some people believe that the day

that we stop learning is the day that we

start dying

and i’m committed to living every day

to the absolute fullest

i had another client her name was thelma

and she chose her senior living

community

based on its proximity to the university

that had an adult living program

and she was a smart cookie she even

negotiated free transportation

to and from each one of her classes

multiple times per week

because she knew that feeding her mind

was feeding her soul and would feed her

longevity

and the next is advocacy

self-advocacy

in order to live a good life you got to

want to live a good life and you have to

fight for

your right to live a good life as well

i spoke at an industry conference

earlier this year and i started off with

the beastie boys and i was like you’ve

got to fight for your right to party

right

and this is

we have older adults that are living in

their homes and living in communities

and they’re wanting to live their full

lives and that’s what it’s our

obligation to support them in doing so

the best way that we possibly can

and so after advocacy is community

as people

we need people we need each other even

the most introverted of us

and there’s something really beautiful

that’s happening in the senior living

industry

we have amazing innovators that are

doing incredible work one of my mentors

is a woman named jill vitale awesome and

she’s actually created

a beautiful community she runs a

regional senior living organization and

her residence are resident citizens

and these citizens are involved in every

part of the decision making of their

organization wouldn’t you like to live

in a place like that where you actually

had a vote and a say-so

that’s what’s happening

and for those who don’t live in senior

living we only have two million people

in the united states who do

they’re living at home

we need to surround them with all the

things that they want to do to live

their best life possible

and then the very last thing is health

who wants to live a long life if you’re

not going to feel good and you’re not

going to have a healthy life

the mayo clinic did

a really groundbreaking study that said

that 70

of the quality of our aging

is based on our lifestyle choices

what we choose what we do to ourselves

so when our doctors tell us that we need

to eat right and exercise and reduce our

stress and get some sleep they know what

they’re talking about

only 30 percent of the quality of our

aging

is genetic

so that says that if we want a higher

quality of life

in our later life we need to get busy

taking care of ourselves today

and i’d be remiss if i did not mention

our financial health our mental health

and our spiritual health

all of those are needed in order to live

a really great

longevity lifestyle

so it’s purpose

and attitude

learning

advocacy

community and health

and so in our youth obsessed culture

i’m acutely aware that i’m aging and i’m

glad

about that i’m actually glad to be

getting older

because the advertisers have taught us

that aging is bad and somehow that

anti-aging is possible

the only way that anti-aging is possible

is if we die

and i kind of like my life right now and

i’m actually pretty proud that i have

survived 55 years on the planet aren’t

you proud of yourselves too

it’s like life gets tough sometimes

and so with anything that happens in

life we have to ask ourselves why am i

in this position why is this happening

to me and what is my role here

and the answer that i got for myself is

that i needed to build the community

that i craved

now what does that mean

that’s when i’m an older adult i want to

be surrounded with other really cool

older adults too

so we actually formed the golden easter

social club and up until now it’s been a

secret society so don’t tell anyone

but

in this secret society we’re bringing

all of our gifts skills and talents to

each other to help brainstorm what later

life will look like

and so i’m going to leave you with three

three things here today the first of

those is to take the principles

and really take some intentional time

for yourself and look and see

how you’re doing right

to use today as a checkpoint in your

life

and then really see what is it that you

can do

or change

in order to set yourself up in a way

that for your future self is going to

thank you

and the last thing that i’ll leave you

with is go hug your grandma

you know

go hug your grandma or any older adult

in your life

let them know

that you need them as much as they need

you and even in the midst of your busy

life

that you will take time to make sure

that they know that they’re important

valued and valuable

and i’ll leave you with one last thing

you’re valuable too

peace and blessings

thank you