NEW AGE WAVE BLOG

Over the years, the boomer generation has received some flak—often characterized as being selfish, irresponsible, and self-indulgent. Whether or not that’s true in general, it’s certainly not true when it comes to the way they think about and feel about their family. In fact, as this massive generation moves into and through retirement, they are often putting the well-being of their children, grandchildren, and even their parents before their own.

In the mid-1990s I had the good fortune of getting to know legendary feminist Betty Friedan after the publication of her book The Fountain of Age. One night over dinner, I asked Betty what her purpose was in writing The Feminine Mystique back in 1963. She told me that she had felt the time had come when women should no longer be measured by the metric of men - either how well they could please a man or how they might compete with men generally.

As I greet 2023 with optimism and hope, I also see grand challenges all around, from hard-hit communities in my own home state to a land war in Europe and global climate change at code red.

It often takes a tragedy to inspire action, and we witnessed that during the COVID-19 pandemic. One-third of U.S. adults (33%) report that the pandemic triggered conversations with close family members about their end-of-life plans and preferences.

Each day, another ten thousand baby boomers turn 70. If we hope to optimize our newfound longevity and mitigate the growing costs of our anticipated illnesses and entitlements, we need to have the guts and wisdom to set the proper course corrections in motion.

Saying goodbye to the old year and hello to the new is always a time of reflection. For me, it’s also a time to consider my evolving legacy and to set new goals for what it can become in the years ahead. Over the last decade, I’ve come to understand the importance of leaving a legacy in one’s personal and professional life, which is informing much of the advocacy I’m doing today about living with purpose, passion, and curiosity.

For far too long, American marketers have been in love with youth, and uncomfortable with older adults, directing nearly all of their attention to Millennials and Gen Z. But those cohorts are coming out of COVID strapped for cash, time-constrained, and are not proving to be loyal to anyone’s products and services.

Throughout 99% of human history, the average life expectancy was under 18 years. Dramatic breakthroughs in medicine, public health, and lifestyle management have caused two unprecedented trends: declining fertility and increasing longevity. The average life expectancy has vaulted from 47 in 1900 to around 78 today (albeit with some temporary backsliding during COVID-19) and a new, uncharted longevity is emerging.

In the late 1960s, I discovered my passion for human potential and our enormous untapped reservoirs of humanity, creativity, intelligence, and physical abilities. As I relocated from Newark to Big Sur and switched my studies from physics to psychology, I was also captivated by a body-mind relationship that was for more interconnected and engaged than what was accepted by modern medicine and psychology at the time.