Can you spare a moment to think about this?
It may seem far off, and it may not be something you want to think about, but if you live long enough, you will turn 60.
This may be hard to grasp because feel so much younger than that. You feel 40, after all!
Perhaps you’ll continue to feel young, even as you age. However, the reality is that you will turn 60 at some point unless you have a worse outcome.
Given this, it’s a reasonable question to ask yourself “What kind of 60 is for me?” After all, looking around, people do ‘do’ 60 in vastly different ways.
So many are resigned, close-minded, complaining, living in the past. Others are open-minded, humorous, in good spirits. Have you noticed this? These and variations in between.
How do you want to be as you get older?
Here are three questions to consider.
- How ‘old’ do you want 60 to be? How will you identify yourself….young or old (or in-between)? How will you refer to yourself and others at 60? How will you see your capacity, your attractiveness, your weaknesses?
Will you treat changes you see in yourself with compassion? Will you see yourself improving in important ways?
Will you be ageist in your thinking and your words? Will you notice the benefits of your age? What are your expectations for being 60?
- What qualities do you want to show at 60?
Which of your personal qualities and characteristics would you really like to cultivate or ‘dial up’, now you are past the high-pressure years of career and family?
What personal strengths and abilities will serve you best over the coming years, in the face of change and opportunities. How can you best deal with inevitable losses in life?
What do you want to start to do differently now, to be how you want to be at 60?
- How will you keep growing? What do you want to be flexible about, and open to, in your 60s? What new ways will you expand your mind at 60?
Will you allow for new pleasures? Can you live a sensual life at 60?
How will you look after your body? How can you give to yourself and others?
Deciding the kind of ‘60’ you want for yourself and infuse that that image (or images) with positive emotion can change your life. When you visualise a desirable future, you kickstart your subconscious to guide and support you in subtle ways.
Asking these questions doesn’t make you older. It just sets a direction.
And it’s needed.
As the years go by, most of us inadvertently fall into familiar ways of doing things. We allow ourselves to run down just a little over time, to get just a bit stale.
Without intention, it just happens.
We may start to see the best years as behind us, echoing the messages of today’s strongly youth-based culture. We are treated like we are getting past it. We communicate this too.
What a waste of this age! Do you really want to have the best of life behind you at 60?
We can give ourselves much more grace than this. Imagining your future can steer you in the direction you want through the small choices you make. The 60s can be the best decade of your life if you let it.