(HappierDaily.com) – Everyone’s heard the admonition to “age gracefully” – but aging happily is much better. It’s never too early or too late to start developing a peaceful and satisfying lifestyle that grows with you through the years. Here are three ways to ensure the later years are as enjoyable as the younger ones.
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
– Abraham Lincoln
Strengthen Long-Haul Muscles
It can be hard to be happy when you just don’t feel good, no matter your age. Exercise for healthy aging is a given, but what you focus on matters as well. To create a body that stands the test of time, one crucial but overlooked factor is the strength of your bones and muscles, including the upper back and arms. Developing and stretching these muscles encourages better posture which improves blood circulation and supports stronger bones.
The side benefits of strong upper body muscles are an extra bonus: your arms get less flabby and you avoid the hunched posture that makes you feel much older than you actually are.
Start on Your Bucket List
Bucket lists are filled with things you wish you’d made time for over the years, but the truth is this: it’s much more fun to do those things as you go. You’ll cross off much more exciting things if you just stop dragging it out. Rather than waiting for the “perfect days” to do them, start as soon as it becomes possible! If you have the means to do what’s on your bucket list at any point in your life, what is stopping you?
Stay Relevant and Connected
There’s nothing worse than becoming irrelevant. It happens slowly at first, when the younger generations start talking “around” you instead of “to” you, assuming that you either don’t understand or don’t care about current events or trends.
The sure-fire way to combat this and stay connected to the world-at-large is to keep your mind sharp. Read news and opinion pieces online, interact with all ages of people in coffee shops, at parks or at social gatherings, and ask what people think, feel and care about. Join a hobby club – anything that sharpens your mind and coordination skills. Learn a new computer program, or download phone apps that engage you in things you don’t know much about yet.
Most of all, stay curious and continue creating a life without dull moments.
Aging happy means living a meaningful life, regardless of where you are along life’s journey.
Copyright 2020, HappierDaily.com