Can you overcome aging?

My brother-in-law and his wife visited us at our cottage recently and she and I had a very good "dock" discussion.  She is someone who has always been interested in the spiritual side of life and she told me that she is exploring, through her regular meditation, the aging process, and how she can take charge of her own aging.  She believes that the power of the mind may be such that she can actually fend off some of the symptoms of aging this way.

There is certainly quite a bit of research that indicates that, if we use our mind well we can control, to some extent, our state of health, both mental and physical.  While not really disagreeing with her, I noted that there does come a time when it is healthy to accept a newly developed limitation flowing from the aging process and that fighting against such limitations, just means we are in denial about the aging process.  I am fascinated with where one should draw the line between fighting the aging process and yielding to it.  If one wants to age gracefully I think it's important to accept this fact and to adapt accordingly.  A good example involves knowing when to give up driving.  This is a tough decision to make and those individuals who make the decision themselves demonstrate what I'm talking about.

How hard is it to retire?

When I first began doing my presentation on how to prepare psychologically for retirement, I wanted it to be based on facts.  So....I checked the research carefully and guess what I found?  Most people like retirement, most people aren't traumatized by it, and retirees on average report higher levels of life satisfaction than any other age group in society! 

I have many friends who are retired, are about to retire, or who will in the next few years and I have to say that their experience and attitudes reflect these research results.  This is true even for those who seemed to be reluctant to retire.  It is important, however, to be aware that the people who do experience retirement in a very positive way are most likely to be those who did spend some time preparing for it.  These individuals have hobbies, interests, a vision, in other words, they had a good idea what they wanted to do before they ever retired.   Pick up any book on how to prepare for retirement and most will suggest that you get a life before you leave work behind.  It can make the transition so much easier.  If you do that, you may find, like many of the retirees I know, the time flies by, there never seems to be enough of it and you really can't figure out how you every had time for work at all!