?You need to start with making a passionate statement abut what you believe and why you are doing this (in every edition).
What a great suggestion!
So, what am I passionate about when it comes to aging?
I am passionate about ignoring chronological age and instead, living my perceived age. If more women did this, there would be fewer little old ladies toddling around.
I am passionate about eliminating ?age? as a tool to discriminate ? an evil still very much with us. For example, rivals of presidential hopeful John McCain are taking potshots at his 70+ age, insinuating he may not live long enough to complete his term if elected. (Disclaimer: this is not a plug for John McCain.)
The age issue is valid to a point. But look, every candidate regardless of age could die while if office. Isn't this why we have a vice president? Our culture has not caught up with the reality that in the past century the lifespan has increased by 27 years. But something tells me that even if this were common knowledge, older people would still experience discrimination. Our society doesn't value older people all that much.
I am passionate about transforming traditional retirement from a period of decline and wasted potential into a fulfilling stage of life driven by the power and wisdom of maturity and on-going engagement in seamless, productive growth.
I am passionate about promoting the awesome strength women have but often don't use because they are not encouraged to do so by a culture that thrives economically and politically on the often avoidable deterioration that accompanies advancing age. (In fewer words, debilitated old age is big business.)
And above all, I am particularly passionate about helping women avoid becoming little old ladies.
You don't have to become a little old lady. And for the record, little old lady-ness has nothing to do with gray hair and wrinkles or if you weigh more (or less) than you did 25 years ago.
?Little Old Lady? is not a nice term. It's even offensive and is usually used to demean an older woman. It's a term that probably should never be used, but let's deal with reality. We all know a little old lady when we see one. And when we do, we should resolve that ?It's not going to be me.?
How do you avoid becoming a little old lady?
There are many ways, but avoidance starts in your head. It starts with overhauling your own stereotypical thinking about what you consider ?old?. It means you exchange fixed ?this is all I can or should do? thinking for ?I can do anything? thinking. The former is little old lady thinking. The latter is ageless, passionate thinking that guarantees growth and achievement. Little old ladies are passive ?acceptors?. Ageless women are like perennial flowers. They constantly bloom and put forth new growth.
In her blockbuster book, ?Bold Retirement? author Mary Lloyd comments on oldness: ? ?Old? is not a pretty picture ? wrinkled, rumpled, slow, stupid, easy to anger and insistent on our own petty needs. Greedy. In the way. Is that you? Sure as hell isn't me.?
Sure as hell doesn't have to be you or me!
You avoid becoming a little old lady by deciding, at least by age 40, that you will not buy into the prevailing senior culture, which is a culture of decline and decay. Avoidance must be a conscious decision or else you will be sucked into a lifestyle that will define how you ought to live and how you ought to be as a ?senior.? Little contributes more to development of little old lady-ness than the conformity of the senior culture.
At age 40 you devise a plan that will help you grow, stay productive and facilitate realization of your full potential as long as you live. That means you will not opt into a lifestyle that has as its focus living life as a pastime. You will engage in a lifestyle that has meaning and purpose with some angst thrown in. All stress is not negative. When stress helps you grow, it has value.
Once you reach maturity what happens is largely up to you. I say ?largely? because you are not in total control of your life. The unexpected happens. It's how you deal with the unexpected that matters. You have the capacity to be a bloomer as long as you live, and no matter what happens, and you can incorporate that mentality into the way you live your life.
Why am I screaming about this? (And you do hear me screaming, don't you?) I passionately believe every woman can avoid becoming a ?little old lady?. Every woman should and could be vital, vibrant and productive until the day she dies. Role models help. They demonstrate that in spite of our culture that promotes decline instead of growth in later years, it's possible to ignore the culture, as well as with the number of years you have lived, and achieve everything you have ever dreamed of achieving.
One of my favorite role models is Dr. Helen Harkness. For inspiration, get a copy of her genius work, ?Don't Stop the Career Clock.? Her thinking is profound and unique and I guarantee it will help you be an ageless bloomer instead of a little old lady.
Another favorite role model is Mary Lloyd. You must read her ?smack on the side of the head? book, ?Bold Retirement.? Her wit and wisdom is piercing and memorable. It will turn your thinking upside down and possibly, inside out. It's what you need to avoid becoming that dreaded Little Old Lady.
But, there is good reason to guard against complacency.
I would guess that more than half the paper waste which could have been recovered worldwide is still ending up in landfills, and most of that is paper used in factories, offices and homes.
Whereas some forms of paper such as cardboard (used in packaging, for example) have a high recycling rate of (in some nations reported to be about 80 per cent), ordinary paper is not nearly so well catered for. In many nations we suspect that less than 20 per cent of ordinary paper is being recycled.
The issue is an important one because it shows that there is still a low level of environmental awareness among the general public. Many people in many nations are still not aware of why they should recycle and how they could do so.
Now we have all been told to recycle paper to save the forests, and to save the energy use of cutting down and shipping such vast amounts of paper around the world, which contributes to global warming.
For many people these reasons simply are not compelling enough forests are a long way away for many of us, and still more of us simply switch-off when told yet again about climate change.
So in this article I would like to try again, with some more really close to home reasons.
The reasons for recycling are simple enough: landfills almost everywhere are filling up more quickly than anticipated and so space must be conserved in every way possible.
This means reducing waste, whether by recycling, reusing or generating less waste, and exploring technical alternatives such as truly smokeless clean-burn incinerators.
Another good reason for reducing waste is that it can help your local industry. Recycling will bring new business to local paper and it can be guaranteed that paper recycling businesses will grow and increase employment as a result.
My final reason is that filling up landfills means that new ones must be found as replacements. What would you think if the next landfill was going to be at the bottom of YOUR back garden?
So, I hope my additional reasons have been more convincing. But, what do we think about the little old lady I mentioned at the start of the article?
The little old lady collecting waste paper is not a negative in my view. Let us encourage the little old lady style of informal sector, especially in the developing nations where this job may be her only means of earning an honorable livelihood. However, if she and thousands like her are going to be effective they need to be backed-up by a comprehensive recycling system on a large scale across the whole range of recyclable materials in the average waste bin.
So, overall it is the segregation, sorting and transporting recycled materials like waste paper to the recyclers where the most action is needed. Although there are hundreds of private waste collectors, their efforts are hindered by the lack of waste separation at source in many homes, offices and factories.
Taking just paper as an example, it must be separated in order to prevent contamination by food waste or other substances which can affect the recycling process. There must also be regular collection so that paper does not pile up and pose a fire hazard or attract pests.
Now think of all the different types of waste you throw away almost daily, and multiple the complexity of sorting, storing, handling and transporting these materials each to different recyclers. This is a massive undertaking, but it really has to be done to improve the sustainability of our cities and of our way of life.
Recycling may be a growing business in worldwide, but there is much more that can be done, not only for paper but also materials such as glass, cans and plastic. It will only be done if the public press their politicians to improve their record for recycling, and are willing themselves to do the work of sorting, washing, and storing individual waste items every day and putting them out for collection.
In many developed nations it is surprising how many people are willing to do this and indeed now see it as their duty. The developing nations are sure to follow. A recent report in the United Kingdom recently claimed that 80% of home owners in one area where happy to sort a very wide range of their rubbish items for separate kerbside collection by their local authority. So will you join the trend?
Both Barbara Morris, R.ph. & Steve Last are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Barbara Morris, R.ph. has sinced written about articles on various topics from . Barbara Morris is a pharmacist and author of Put Old on Hold. Visit her website at . Barbara Morris, R.ph.'s top article . to your Favourites.
Steve Last has sinced written about articles on various topics from Aging. Now if you would also like to know more about waste management find out about the