Old Before Your Time?
Posted by admin at 04:28 | Filed In Build Self Esteem
I read an interesting statistic today on a blog I was reading. There are 40 000 people in the USA today that are 100+ years old. It is anticipated that by 2050 there will be 1 million aged 100 or over. That is a fair number of people. Of course the forty thousand are also part of the 80 million people aged 50+ living in the USA currently.
One of the challenges facing this group of people, the size of Germanys population to put the number into perspective, is what to do with those extra 50 odd years. Work is only going to take up a fraction of this time if the retirement age continues to be 60. Millions of people are put out to pasture, with no real challenges facing them, except how to make their retirement savings last so many years.
Its the concept of being put out to pasture that is the main problem. It eats away at self-esteem. There is no more purpose to getting up in the morning, such as hurrying to work or having tasks to complete. I wouldnt really call visits to clinics something to look forward to, or the Senior Citizen outings with cake, tea and some comedian whose sell by date has been noted in history books. It becomes an invisible period of ones life. There are no more collegues asking for opinions, no more junior staff needing advice. If your are lucky you get the odd opportunity to look after grandchildren.
Not even marketers are interested in you. Not many marketing campaigns are directed at people over 45 years of age, shock and horror never mind 50+. Even there you are invisible. Up to that age you were the centre of the universe for marketers. Wowed by new products, spoken to, serenaded, wooed. All that is over once the magic age of 50 has been reached, and certainly, one is a little relieved to be out of the spotlight.
It does mean though that products are not tuned to your needs. This could be the mobile phone where you have to have 40/40 vision to be able to read the numbers, product descriptions on food packaging using font size 5 or less, websites that have fabulous Flash animations, but dont stay static long enough for you to work out what you need to do next or the DVD player with labeling so small you need a microscope to navigate your way.
So what does one do for 50 odd invisible years? Is this a long period of time that one wants to vegetate away, or is there more to do in life? There are some signs that this lost generation is starting to stir. There is a fair uptake in studies at colleges and universities where these senior citizens in the USA or OAP old age pensioners in the UK are re-qualifying and starting new careers. They often start small businesses and often as consultants. They certainly have experience and knowledge in their fields. And sometimes they actually inadvertantly start huge businesses.
Finding that second spark could determine how you grow old. Are you going to be screaming against the unfairness of growing old, or are you going to challenge yourself to new projects and live every moment? I have a feeling that the ones complaining about the unfairness of old age, will look their age. And this will be long before the ones who challenge themselves will remotely look or feel their age, whatever that might mean.
Anja Merret lives in Brighton, UK. Her personal blog http://www.anjamerret.com allows her to voice opinions on issues that interest her and observations she makes.
She has started a new blog http://www.pinkblocks.com that deals with observations on self development and personal power. Her recommendation for self help tools may be found on http://www.anjamerret.blogspot.com
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