{"id":341,"date":"2007-09-20T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-20T16:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html"},"modified":"2007-09-20T16:37:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-20T16:37:00","slug":"80-years-old-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html","title":{"rendered":"80+ Years Old Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>
All week I\u2019ve been talking Aging with Joy<\/span>. As the years creep up, some of you succumb to the belief that life is going downhill. NOT! Today is always the first day of the rest of your life, not another step to a depressing place<\/span>.<\/p>\n

You can be happy and fulfilled at any age. A new book, 80: Our Most Famous 80 Year Olds Reveal Why They Never Felt So Young<\/a><\/span><\/span> (Sourcebooks, 2007) by Gerald Gardner and Jim Bellows has input from eighty of America\u2019s most inspirational people who have reached the age of eighty or more and reflect on their journeys to \u201cthe big 8-0.\u201d Those of you who fear \u201cthe big 4-0\u201d take heart. These eighty young, older seniors say the passions that they continue to pursue keep them truly young. They honed their enjoyment of life and never let it go!<\/p>\n

In 80: Our Most Famous 80 Year Olds Reveal Why They Never Felt So Young<\/a><\/span><\/span> these people who are 80+ tell their stories. Reading them will entertain and enlighten you to what you could have in store in your senior years, IF you choose to continue to enjoy life. Legendary household names from Ben Bradlee to Dominick Dunne; Jane Russell to Lena Horne; Liz Smith to Peter Marshall\u2014share candidly and enthusiastically about how they\u2019ve maintained a satisfying quality of life<\/span>. They also talk about lessons from their pasts that contribute to their attitudes and activities today.<\/p>\n

You can learn from these happy unsenior-like seniors! And be inspired to create your own foundation for a happy life at any age<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The common theme among them is the importance of work. \u201cNever retire\u201d, they all advise. While many have changed their paths, their passion and the commitment lead them to satisfying alternatives. Some examples are:<\/p>\n

Helen Gurley Brown<\/span>, who continues to launch international editions of Cosmo. When I first began writing, I did my first interview with this amazing woman. She was gracious and kind, traits that probably help her stay in the game today. <\/p>\n

Nanette Fabray,<\/span> who\u2019s a legend in TV, film and Broadway, now works tirelessly for the disabled, testifying in Congress and lobbying. Helping others is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Studies show that people who are the happiest believe in giving back.<\/p>\n

Carl Reiner<\/span> who astounds Hollywood with his continued energy. Think Oceans 11, 12 and 13. This 80+ legend holds his own among Brad Pitt and Clooney. <\/p>\n

Senator Robert Byrd<\/span> still does what he\u2019s done for decades, with a fearless and relentless ability! Age hasn\u2019t slowed down his efforts in the senate. There\u2019s no mandatory age to retire, unless you give it to yourself!<\/p>\n

Betty Garrett<\/span> still performs, teaches and runs her own theater. Passion driven keeps you life-driven instead of waiting for the end to come and being miserable!<\/p>\n

Norman Lear<\/span>, legendary writer and producer of some of the most popular sitcoms in the history of TV now travels to campuses with a copy of the Declaration of Independence to inspire young people to vote. Colleges! I\u2019ve heard folks in their 40\u2019s dismiss college students as an audience to speak to. They block themselves from opportunities! Lear makes new ones.<\/p>\n

Hugh Hefner<\/span>\u2014do I need to elaborate on this man who lives with some of the hottest chicks out there? He does his TV show and lives life to the fullest. I recently heard him say that his sex life is still kicking on high. Hmmm\u2026 That should motivate some of you to not give up on yourself as the years increase in your age. <\/p>\n

Yesterday I quoted George Bernard Shaw saying, “We don\u2019t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” All the people in this book have decided to not stop playing<\/span>. I heard one of the authors say that he expected to have a hard time interviewing this illustrious group but no, they were all happy to tell their stories. Graciousness is another quality that can help you live happier for a longer time. <\/p>\n

Check out 80: Our Most Famous 80 Year Olds Reveal Why They Never Felt So Young<\/a><\/span> if you want a good motivation for guiding your life to a healthier and happier journey as you get older.

\"AddThis<\/a> var addthis_pub = ‘wryter’;
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All week I\u2019ve been talking Aging with Joy. As the years creep up, some of you succumb to the belief that life is going downhill. NOT! Today is always the first day of the rest of your life, not another step to a depressing place. You can be happy and fulfilled at any age. A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aging","category-happiness"],"yoast_head":"\n80+ Years Old Rocks - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"80+ Years Old Rocks - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All week I\u2019ve been talking Aging with Joy. As the years creep up, some of you succumb to the belief that life is going downhill. NOT! Today is always the first day of the rest of your life, not another step to a depressing place. You can be happy and fulfilled at any age. A…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-09-20T16:37:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/RvLdKWRWpsI\/AAAAAAAAAB8\/UO3lBzvd_wg\/s200\/80book.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daylle Deanna Schwartz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"80+ Years Old Rocks - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"80+ Years Old Rocks - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","og_description":"All week I\u2019ve been talking Aging with Joy. As the years creep up, some of you succumb to the belief that life is going downhill. NOT! Today is always the first day of the rest of your life, not another step to a depressing place. You can be happy and fulfilled at any age. A…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html","og_site_name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","article_published_time":"2007-09-20T16:37:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/RvLdKWRWpsI\/AAAAAAAAAB8\/UO3lBzvd_wg\/s200\/80book.jpg"}],"author":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html","name":"80+ Years Old Rocks - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/RvLdKWRWpsI\/AAAAAAAAAB8\/UO3lBzvd_wg\/s200\/80book.jpg","datePublished":"2007-09-20T16:37:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-09-20T16:37:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/RvLdKWRWpsI\/AAAAAAAAAB8\/UO3lBzvd_wg\/s200\/80book.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_W3h59OgJIAA\/RvLdKWRWpsI\/AAAAAAAAAB8\/UO3lBzvd_wg\/s200\/80book.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2007\/09\/80-years-old-rocks.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"80+ Years Old Rocks"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/","name":"Lessons from a Recovering Doormat","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Daylle Deanna Schwartz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/4250884f68a588907744baa491f9df35","name":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/83b\/83ba6e1423377712fe408a5fab971bfax96.jpg","caption":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz"},"description":"Daylle Deanna Schwartz is a speaker, self-empowerment counselor, best-selling author of 15 books, including Nice Girls Can Finish First (McGraw-Hill), All Men Are Jerks Until Proven Otherwise and founder of The Self-Love Movement\u2122 where she's giving away her 13th book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start & Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}