Aging: Where Are We Going?

 By: Richard Failla, CEO

There are a great many 'Baby Boomers' who will turn 65 this year. For those of us who grew up with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Woodstock, and Vietnam Nam, what now? What's the next developmental stage? Will we as the poet Dylan Thomas said 'go gentle into that good night', or will we storm and rage at the sight?

Carl Jung, the Psychoanalyst, suggested a stage of development that pointed toward spiritual development. When the body no longer helps focus on the physical achievements of life it is time to focus on our spiritual selves. Erick Erickson spoke of Generativity versus Stagnation. Generativity is motivated by us passing on to our younger colleagues all that we have learned from our years of contributions to our families and our careers. The final stage for Erickson is how we resolve Ego Integrity versus despair. It's in this stage that we accept who we are and where we are in life.

I believe that we boomers have a great deal to offer all humanity. I believe we will redefine what it means to get old, not by a formula or a recipe but by how we live our final years. I personally don't like the word retire. It sounds too much like expire. As a group we never allowed those that came before us to tell us how to live. Why would we allow our children or anybody else to tell us how to live now?

I want to live my life forward. To all the old guys and ladies turning 65 this year I say we still have the ability to make the world a better place. We can still preach peace over war.  We can still march and occupy Wall Street or any other street. As a 71 year old Psychiatrist friend of mine in Colorado Springs said, ‘the day I have to trailer my Harley to Sturgis' is the day I quit riding. Remember to keep it physical; run, bike, swim, play tennis, ski, etc.  The best is yet to come!