Oldness is a crock. Defy it!

Can you get to 70 and beyond and not be old? Absolutely, says Barbara Morris, a nationally recognized anti-aging expert, author, and pharmacist.
According to the 76- year-young Morris who still looks, feels, and functions as she did in her fifties, “We’re not talking about “old age”, here. We all know the passage of time is inevitable. But there is a huge difference between ‘getting old’ and ‘being old’.”
“How do I do it? How can others do it? It’s easy. You just have to learn to defy two things: human nature and conventional wisdom,” she says.
“Human nature gets us every time if we let it. We all know we are born only to eventually die and most people believe everything in between is out of our control. That’s where we lose it. Gerontologists say that 70 percent of the aging process is controllable with wise lifestyle choices. Those with vision and determination understand this, take that 70 percent “gift”and run with it. Those people get to a healthy midlife, able to feel and function that way for at another 25 years or more.”
The other thing you have to defy, according to Morris, is conventional wisdom. “We have been led to believe that at certain stages of life certain things will or should happen. Or, that there is an expected way to live, think, and behave. If you can get past attaching significance to chronological age, you have it made. You will never have to experience “oldness” or put up with the negativity attached to it.”
Morris adds one more caveat: “Don’t tell your age. When others know you are “about” a certain age, you are more accepted. You have fewer labels to deal with. When your exact age is known, you expose yourself to the biases, expectations, and perceptions of others. You will be treated in accord with their stereotypical notions of how someone “your age” should conform to society’s norms. I promise, the treatment won’t always be as you would prefer.”