A Happiness Expert’s Guide to Aging Gracefully

Like a bottle of wine, you can get better with age with the right care. Aging gracefully is more about being healthy than keeping the wrinkles at bay. The second half of your life can bring some of your most rewarding decades. You may be more confident than your younger self. You gain wisdom and patience. It isn’t always easy, but attitude matters a lot, experts say.

What we really want is to live longer well, staying healthy enough to continue doing the things we love. While having good genes certainly helps, a growing body of research suggests that how well you age depends largely on you and what you do. Fortunately, research also finds that it is never too late to make changes that can help you live a longer and healthier life

The topic of healthy aging is all over the news these days. There’s no shortage of advice on how to age without feeling like we’re getting old. Some see age as a state of mind, some cite social engagement, and still others emphasize diet and physical health as essential to keeping us young.

Getting older is inevitable (and certainly better than the alternative). While you can’t control your age, you can slow the decline of aging with smart choices along the way. From the foods you eat and how you exercise to your friendships and retirement goals — it all has an effect on how fast or slow your body ages.

The first step to defy the rules of aging?

Believe that you can. Here’s how. your mindset.

When you think about getting older, how do you picture it? The answer matters more than you think: Your attitude about aging, whether you think of it as a time of frailty and decline or as a time of growth and opportunity, partly determines how you will age.

Your attitude about aging, whether you think of it as a time of frailty and decline or as a time of growth and opportunity, partly determines how you will age.

That’s why it pays to foster a positive mindset. And no, it’s not too late. Over at Cityline we found some advice from happiness expert Kathie Donovan. She shared her perspective on aging gracefully and leaving expectation behind. Check out a happiness expert’s guide to aging gracefully in the video below.