BOOK REVIEW May, 2016
DISRUPT AGING
A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age
AUTHOR: JO ANN JENKINS
CEO of AARP
With Boe Workman
The new reality of aging….it’s all about living!
________Jo Ann Jenkins
Getting old is not for sissies. Whoever said this was the golden age must have been under the influence. If I knew then what I know now, I might have made better choices in my life. For those of us who are ‘seasoned’ individuals, how many times have we either said these things or heard them from someone else? It seems that there has always been a doom and gloom association with getting old that many fall into a depression just considering the thought. Well, wake up and smell the coffee! In this book, Ms. Jenkins succeeds in forging new pathways in our thought processes, stimulating our minds to embrace new possibilities for a healthy, happy, productive life after the age of fifty. The reader actually begins to realize that age is just a condition of the mind and one should be directed to attend to the definitive, numerous situations which they can alter rather than being consumed by something they cannot. People must own their age, not be
defined by it!
Health, financial conditions and self-awareness are the main areas that are covered in this constructive gem. Ms. Jenkins deliberately suggests realistic strategies in all of these categories,
pointing out that solutions are not bleak nor is one to think they are alone in finding guidance. Assistance and direction are more prevalent than ever before, dealt with by governmental
organizations, community groups and non-profits. On the other hand, families must become proactive, advocating for product and service changes that could eventually affect them, as well.
People sixty, seventy, eighty and beyond are no longer a minority and the ancient premise that a rocking chair was the only comfort awaiting a senior citizen is just that…ancient. But the
primary disruption that must occur is within each individual. It must be internalized that this stage of life can be a time of growth rather than decline with meaning and purpose thereby
enabling all to surge forward in establishing a productive course.
“Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” That is a quote from Leroy “Satchel” Paige, a famous baseball player. He actually never knew that he was forty-two
when he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1948 because he had never seen his birth certificate. He was the oldest rookie on record yet it brought him nothing but joy and a sense of great
satisfaction. Allow the experiences you have accumulated in life to work for you and surge into the next phase of your existence with a sense of opportunity not oppression. The wisdom gained
from reading this book might just put a spring in your step and, in so doing, reveal that golden age you thought was only a dream.