Special Issues of Aging in America

The Baby Boomers are beginning to turn 60 in the year 2006. This trend-setting mass of humanity has influenced every political and economic tendency since they came into existence after the end of World War II. The building booms of the 1950s and 1960s were driven by families housing needs for this generation. Ford's Mustangs in the 1960s and minivans in the late 1970s and 1980s were trends demanded by this group of Boomers. Advertising, music trends, and every product line have been influenced by this surge of humanity. Now that this group is entering their 60s, the society will begin to respond with services and products to serve this group that began with births in 1946 and, by definition, ended with births in 1964. If you are looking for a new business opportunity that will build steadily for the next 20 years, look for a product or service that places you ahead of this curve. As an example, health and beauty, though big, will get even bigger as this generation tries to avoid the aging process.

In some way, I am writing this series of articles to keep my work in the front of this trend. I have been working in my field since 1978 and realize that an emphasis on the health, well-being, quality of life, and even the prosperity of this generation has both a professional and personal interest for me. My second book, Stress Passages: Surviving Lifes Transitions Gracefully, had a major goal to serve the population of people struggling with the transition of aging. Well, now this book is no longer ahead of its time. The time is now!

Everyone who survives until mid-life, confronts the issues of an aging body. There are now more of us drifting past the mid-life barrier. People begin to realize, after they deal with their issues of denial, that we have to start doing it (life) smarter because we just can not muscle through it like we did when we young. Usually, women are more in touch with these realities than men, but everyone must begin to cope with the process of aging and the toll that it ultimately can take.

For many of us, we will have to pay a price for the way we chose to live our lives. Poor eating, weight gains, lack of exercise, habits like smoking or drinking, even our genetic code begins to manifest in ways that are less than ideal. We have created, and lived in, a youth obsessed culture. We expect to live with strength and vitality reserved for young people. Acceptance of the aging process does not come easily, if at all. We suffer from the stress of our society and there is huge pressure to not give an inch to aging. This works for few of us, but most of us will fail with depressing results. (Except for the mood elevating drug manufacturers, this is not a good trend.)

We must learn to adjust and to not be victimized by the personal aging process that each of us must confront. Awareness will be helpful, in fact, it may be half the battle. The other half the battle will be in acceptance and in developing strategies that will assist us in minimizing the effects of the aging process. Since we can not avoid aging (because the options are not at all positive), we must learn to control the impact and find the best ways to get the best quality of life from this process.

In the next parts, we will explore the impact that aging can have on our health and, more importantly, what we can do to create a more graceful way of living with the process of aging.

As you move through life, please remember to take good care of yourself.