Last week I learned to text message.  If you are not familiar with text messaging, it is like sending an e-mail using your phone.  Learning to text message may not sound like a big technological accomplishment, but after I successfully sent my first text and received a reply I felt like I had truly entered the digital age.

I communicate with e-mail, search with Google, order online and create PowerPoints for presentations, but I am not what you would call a technology wizard.  I am so technologically limited that the IT director at our College uses me as his communication guinea pig.  I read his IT updates before he distributes them.  If I understand his technology directions, he feels confident everyone else in the College will as well.

But I quickly and easily learned to text, so I am definitely feeling more technologically confident.   I was on a conference call with six other colleagues about my age, and we were trying to find a solution to a communication problem.  I suggested text messaging because I was feeling pretty confident about my new skill, and it really would be the perfect solution.  Every person on the call said they didn’t text message; they were too old.  Their comments really reminded me of the importance of continuing to learn new skills regardless of our age. 

A year ago, I didn’t think I would learn to text message.  Why would I want to-most people my age didn’t text message.  But my daughter does, and I wanted to be able to communicate with her.  So I learned to text message, and I’m feeling pretty good about the whole process.  Now I’m thinking about what other technology skill I might want to explore.

Earlier this month I went to the Second Annual Positive Aging Conference in Minneapolis.  After attending the first Positive Aging Conference in St.Petersburg, FL last year, I went with high expectations.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Richard Bolles, best known for his many editions of the classic job-search guide What Color is Your Parachute?, gave the most memorable presentation of the day.  Although his presentation came to us via film due to an earlier injury that prevented him from traveling, his presence filled the room of over 300 people.

What can we do to age well?  According to Bolles, how we live now guides how well we age.  We tend to take one of three paths to living our lives, and the path we choose influences what we can do to age well.

One path is the step-by-step approach.  Bolles calls those who take this path “our people” because these are the people who readily look to researchers, coaches, counselors and authors for guidance in identifying and following the “steps” to vital aging.   We know a lot about what contributes to vital aging, and this is the group who is most open to using this information and learning from who has gone before.

But what about those who take the other two paths-relying on luck and trusting intuition?  What guidance is available for them to age well? 

Those who rely on luck as they move through life accept what comes their way and make the most of opportunities as they arise.  Because luck often happens at the intersection of life and outside forces, those who follow this path can benefit from expanding their world, making it as wide as possible.  By making life and mind as wide as possible, the number of potential “lucky” intersections increases.

Much like the heroine in Mama Mia who invited all three of her possible fathers to her wedding and stated that she “would just know” who her father was when she met him, those who rely on intuition make choices that feel right.    Those who trust intuition can age well by paying closer attention to what they learn from what they do.  One way to pay closer attention is demonstrated by a mystic who ended each day by mentally playing a video of the day, noting the high points and what he could learn from them.  Another way to pay closer attention is to think about close friends and identify what traits they have in common and ask the question, “Are these traits true of me?”  In this way other people serve as mirrors, helping us to see ourselves more clearly.

Most of us can identify which path best describes how we move through life. Whether it is moving through life step-by-step, relying on luck, or trusting intuition, we can increase our ability to age well. 

As we closely observe ourselves as we grow older, we can identify constant threads such as character and talents that stay with us throughout our lives and provide the basis for putting our lives in the largest possible context as we age.  When we are young, much of our energy is physical.  As we age, our energy comes from other sources, such as enthusiasm and expectancy.

At the Positive Aging Conference Richard Bolles provided a wonderful example of energetic aging.  Eighty-one years old, recovering from a serious hip injury, and using technology to speak to a group of more than 300 people 2,000 miles away, he radiated energy and wisdom and mesmerized our group.  What a wonderful role model for vital aging!

It is that time of the year when the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by releasing its Word of the Year.  The 2008 Word of the Year is “hypermiling”, which means attempting to maximize gas mileage by making fuel conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.

What does hypermiling have to do with ageinista ?  Nothing, really, but stay with me.  A finalist for the 2008 word of the year is “frugalista”, defined as a person who leads a frugal lifestyle but stays fashionable and healthy by swapping clothes, buying secondhand, and growing their own produce, etc.

William Safire provides a history of using ista, the Spanish version of the English suffix ist in “Frugalista” in the November 23, New York Times.  According to Safire, Ista was first used with an English noun  to create the word fashionista in 1993 when Stephen Fried used it in “Thing of Beauty”, a biography of spermodel Gia.  Today fashionista  most often means “one who closely follows fashion” or sometimes the negative “clotheshorse.”

What does frugalista have to do with ageinista ?  I like the word possibilities of ista  and propose using it to create a new word,ageinista, to describe someone who embraces the positive aspects of aging.  An ageinista celebrates the wisdom and experience that comes with maturity.  Rather than fighting and denying aging, an ageinista embraces the gifts that come over time.  Staying active, taking care of the mind, body and spirit, and living with purpose are hallmarks of an ageinista.

How would you describe an ageinista? How do you live like an ageinista?