 Hi, my name is Seymour Kazimurski. I host a show called Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. You can find all my shows and commentaries on the Think Tech Hawaii website or on YouTube. Today's topic is Don't Get Old, Get Bold. We all learn as we get older that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms and never ever apologize for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less traveled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity and leap before you look. Dance as though everybody is watching. March to the beat of your own drubber and stubbornly refuse to fit in. One of the best jokes I have heard about getting old was from George Carlin. I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a lot more as they get older. And then it dawned on me they're cramming for their final exam. Is that us? Our ideas about aging and what it means to be over 50 or 60 or 90 seem to be stuck somewhere back in the middle of the 20th century. We still consider 65 or 55 in some sectors as standard retirement age, and we expect everyone to start slowing down and moving aside for the next generation as their age ticks past the half-century mark. No way, not me and not you. Let's stand up. Let's dance. Let's do what we always wanted to do. Let's shatter that myth about aging. How can we live the life we want rather than the one that's prescribed for us? So let's get practical. If you find yourself on the AARP side of 50 and you don't want to follow the path laid down for you by society's expectations, here are seven things you can do to age like a fine wine or a great violin versus a can of diet coke or a cheap car. Number one, think about yourself. As we get older, many of us have the luxury of choice for the first time. When you don't have so many things and people clamoring for your attention on a daily basis, you can think about what you'd like the rest of your life to look like. Want to keep working? Figure out how to make that happen on your terms. Want to stop working? Figure out how to make that happen on your terms. Want to create some new version of work, not work? Figure out who you get the idea. Don't assume you have to do or can't do anything. Get clear about what you love and what you're good at and make a life that you truly want to live. Number two, wear purple and pink. I love this because I'm colorblind. My iPad covers purple and my travel bag is pink, so don't tell me I can't do what I want to do. They are beautiful colors to me, so that's it. One of the truly great things about getting old is that you can in ways subtle and grand thumb your nose at convention with fewer consequences than when you were younger. My kids roll their eyes at some of my choices, but they aren't the deciding voice. I am. Number three, use everything. Most traditional cultures revered older people as the carriers of wisdom and the archivists of the groups, knowledge and experience. In the modern world, not so much. We tend to assume that any knowledge older people have is outdated or downright irrelevant and to dismiss the value of their contributions. You, however, can think differently about this. You can value what you bring to the party. You've amassed a great deal of experience, skill and knowledge that isn't time-sensitive. How to deal with people? How to get stuff done? How to navigate complex environments? How to teach others and support their success? An age also often brings a specific kind of wisdom. When you've seen and heard and experienced a lot, if you're a reasonably reflective person, you're going to be able to extract some useful patterns from all that living and offer those insights to those around you. You'll probably tend to be less reactive and to be more interested in hearing what other people have to say. Even if others dismiss you, don't dismiss yourself. Bring all that your life has taught you to everything you do and you'll be able to use it to accomplish great things for many years to come. Number four, be a novice. At the same time, one of the most critical ways to stay vital as you get older is to consciously immerse yourself in learning new things. The least interesting and most calcified older people I know are those who find a comfortable spot and burrow in doing the same things, having the same conversations, expressing the same opinions. You know what? Make a commitment to yourself to learn something entirely new on a regular basis. There's nothing like being bad as something to wake you up, shake you out of your complacency. For instance, can I really jump out of an airplane? It's daunting and energizing and I can feel my synapses firing on a daily basis. Number five, believe what's true. People assume all kinds of things about people over 50, 60, 70. That we can be powerful. Yes, we can. That we don't like social media. Yes, we do. That we're not sexy. Yes, we are. For example, I feel smarter, healthier, more vital, creative, and open than at any previous point in my life. Whether or not anyone else believes that's true or even possible, I'm choosing to believe my own experience versus what others tell me I ought to be experiencing. I suggest you do the same. Number six, keep good company. I regularly spend time with people who are my age, older than me, younger than me, and a lot younger than me. I especially enjoy the time I spend with people in their 20s and 30s. It's exhilarating to engage with people who have grown up in such a different world than I grew up in, and to understand their hopes and fears, their assumptions, and their expectations. But the best thing is this, keeping company with smart, engaged, curious, loving, funny, kind people of all ages makes me feel as young as them. One of my favorite things to do is to play tennis with someone 20 or 30 years younger than me. Whether I beat them or not is not important. I compete it. I do sometimes cheat to win. That's a privilege of old eyes and old age. Number seven, have a lot of fun. One of the most powerful ways to craft your later years to be wonderful is to insist on your right to be as joyful, silly, happy, goofy, full of wonder as enthusiastic and excited as you want to be until the day you die. And if anyone looks at you, as scant as you're giggling uncontrollably or whooping with glee, just let them know this is what getting older really looks like. My name is Seymour Kazimurski. I host a show called Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. You can find all my shows and commentaries on the Think Tech Hawaii website or on YouTube.