We begin this journey with a question "How old do you live?" Please note that we are not asking how old you are. We think that as we face this new stage of our lives it is important to examine certain elements of our lives that affect our lives. We recognize that a shift has taken place in our lives. We might be retired or no longer working full time. Our kids are not living at home and are hopefully out on their own doing well. Our families no longer look to us as the ones having the answers or the "go to" person when problems or dilemas arise. We are no longer looked on by the business world as the generation of importance. So, we realize that our position in society has changed. So have our lives. Our lives up until this point have been largely controlled by outside forces. Bosses to answer to, children to raise and care for, duties and obligations that are to be met to satisfy the needs and wants of others.
We now find ourselves in a position where the expectations, demands and constraints from outside sources have been eliminated or greatly diminished. A change that allows us to shift our emphasis from meeting the demands and expectations of others to meeting the expectations that we have of ourselves. Quite a change. So what are we to do? We think that it is necessary as a beginning to examine various aspects of our lives to understand where we are right now. We don't worry about the past and its successes and failures. Our interest is where we are now. Our first step asks that we examine our health and our finances. We are not judging here but believe it is mandatory that we honestly appraise our health (mental and physical) and finances if we are to move forward in our lives in a meaningful way.
We will also examine whose values we are living by. Are they the values adopted by us in our youth as imposed by our teachers, parents or peers? Are they values we really hold dear to our hearts or just ones that sound good. Are we conforming to what "society" thinks should be our values? We also will look at our goals, interests and passions. Our first question is do we have any? Are we short changing ourselves by not developing any goals, interests and passions of our own.
So, the first step in our program involves self-examination to determine where we stand in a number of areas of our lives. I think that in this quest it is good to consider a question asked by the great Satchel Paige: "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are
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