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The roar of the refrigerator, the whisper of the tissue. My quality of life changed for the better this week when I quit procrastinating and got myself fitted for a pair of CIC (completely-in-the-canal) digital hearing aids. In one afternoon, I dropped out of the ranks of the 28 million Americans with impaired hearing - including 14 percent of adults 45-64 and nearly half of those over 65 - and joined the small percent of those who decide to do something about it. Now I can hear sounds (see above) that most people with normal hearing filter out as the background noise of living. In time, the audiologist tells me, my brain will adjust and I too will stop "hearing" what is not necessary, and pick up most of what is important to me. Although I accept that my hearing can never be what it was when I was a kid, my new Big Ears have already passed their first test. The other night, I attended a closing event organized by Future Possibilities, the non-profit group that pairs adult coaches with school children. In the recent past, I found it almost impossible to hold a conversation when there was a lot of background noise. You can imagine the noise level made by over 170 excited children, their coaches and parents, packed into Synod Hall at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on New York's Upper West Side. Yet, I was able to enjoy, among other things, a chat with one of the coaches with whom I share a passion for yoga. Why am I sharing this with you? Because I believe many of us 50 and older are in denial about hearing loss, and we and our families, friends and colleagues all pay a price in incomplete communication or misunderstanding. How can we listen to each other if we can't hear? Like most people, I can't pinpoint just when my hearing began to deteriorate. I started to notice that people seemed to be mumbling, that I could get what was being said in a quieter environment. I was fine when people were turned toward me but frequently missed words or phrases when they were turned away - all typical symptoms of hearing loss. I now understand that hearing impairment often occurs gradually over years even decades, so most people learn to compensate for the loss, often unconsciously. We may learn to follow a conversation by using our intuition about the context, possibly even practicing a rudimentary form of lip reading. But over time, we may begin to avoid crowded social situations where we feel at a disadvantage. Hearing loss has even been linked to depression. The bottom line: hearing loss can make us miss out on the richness of human expression that is our birthright, and it doesn't have to be that way. So why is it that many of us who have no problem adding a pair of reading glasses to our repertoire, who have even created a brand new market for stylish corrective eyewear, are deeply embarrassed to admit that their hearing isn't what it used to be. Impaired hearing has long been associated with the supposed mental deterioration of aging (another myth). Can it be that we would rather tolerate missing out on a part of our world than admitting to ourselves that we might be losing our grip? Well, you Boomers and Boomers-Plus, listen up, especially if you are among the millions who happily assaulted your eardrums at rock concerts (mea culpa). Be grateful for technology so sophisticated that an instrument as small as a thumb nail (give or take) can be programmed to your personal audiogram, compensating for exactly the loss you are experiencing. Some are so tiny, they are virtually invisible when correctly positioned inside the ear canal. There are a number of reputable manufacturers offering hearing instruments at a variety of price ranges, and prices have been dropping gradually. In general, the smaller and more sophisticated the instrument, the more you'll pay for it. The Web has a lot of good basic information, but for my money, an audiologist is the best way to go. Here's one useful site: http://www.hearusa.com/ Also search under individual manufacturer's names like Accutone, Siemens, Widex and others. (We aren't pushing any particular brand.) A final note: hearing aids, like eye glasses (and dentistry sometimes) are not covered by most health insurance policies. Making hearing and vision eligible for insurance reimbursement is an important part of health care reform, now long overdue. Let your legislator know what you think. BOOKSITE In lieu of a review, we are featuring some of our 2young2retire writers and their work, the first two featured are new to the site. When you use the hyperlink in these True Stories to go to Amazon, you are supporting the work of this website. We thank you in advance. AOL users, please copy/paste the URL in your browser window.
Two weeks shy of his 50th birthday in 1988, Bob Griffiths, 64, author of Do What You Love for the Rest of Your Life: A Practical Guide to Career Change and Personal Renewal (Ballantine Books, 2001) "gave it all up" when he left his position as a senior vice president of LF Rothschild and Company, the pinnacle of a long career in the financial markets. See his story here: www.2young2retire.org/bobgriffiths.htm Rita Golden Gelman, 64, decided to "do life differently" after a divorce in 1986. With her two children grown, she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of going to distant lands to learn about other cultures. Her study of anthropology helped nurture her passion to discover new places and live with new people. This passion has fueled many of her books, her most recent of which is Tales of a Female Nomad: Living At Large in the World (Crown 2001). See www.2young2retire.org/ritagoldengelman.htm Ada P. Kahn, Ph.D., 66, community health educator and author of ten books on health and women's empowerment. From 1990 until August of this year, she was Manager, Community Health Education at Rush North Shore Medical Center, Skokie, Illinois. Her most recent title, Keeping The Beat: Healthy Aging Through Amateur Chamber Music Playing, blends her love of music -- she has played the flute since high school -- with her expertise in healthy aging. See www.2young2retire.org/adakahn.htm Perseverance and an unflagging belief in one's talent were two qualities that kept 70-something Philip Danze writing, despite a number of close calls with some of the large publishing houses. In October 2001, GreyCore Press published Danze's first novel: CONJURING MAUD.
Read it: www.2young2retire.org/danze.htm George D. Kinder, 50, a fee-only certified financial planner, grew up in Appalachia watching his hardworking attorney father struggle to make money. So devastating was the memory, when George graduated from Harvard in 1971 with a degree in English Literature, he was determined he wasn't going to sacrifice his soul "in any pursuit as unfulfilling as a 'job.'" His book, The Seven Stages of Money Maturity, is published by Delacorte Press and also available in a Dell paperback edition. George's story: www.2young2retire.org/georgekinder.htm POTPOURRI * How savvy are you about personal finance? Most Americans need some brushing up on the basics. These financial literacy tests (courtesy ABC News) are fun to take and may show you where you come up short.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/DailyNews/stark_financial_literacy_020205.html * You've seen those signs on the bus, train and taped to your telephone poles: Make $5,000 a month working from home! But here's a company that doesn't over-promise on the money, but posts legitimate, work from home jobs doing word processing, research, writing, data entry, administrative, web design, customer service, transcription, desk top publishing, telemarketing, translation and more. www.virtualassistants.com/join.html * What do Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Angelina Jolie, Tiger Woods, the New York Giants, and baseball star, Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez have in common. They all do yoga, according to an article in the March/April issue of Modern Maturity. Worth checking out "A Life in Balance" by Bill Heavy, available on line if this edition slipped by you: http://www.modernmaturity.org/departments/2002/health/0310_health_a.html * More Fun, Less Stuff: The Challenges and Rewards of a New American Dream is an entertaining, informative look at the hidden costs of the "more is better" definition of the American dream. Hosted by actor Danny Glover, this thirty-minute film features inspiring profiles of individuals, companies and organizations that are changing the way they consume to improve quality of life, protect the environment and promote social justice. http://www.newdream.org/publications/video.html * Does the idea of a bracing hike combined with a treasure hunt sound appealing? Consider Geocaching, "the sport where YOU are the search engine. A GPS (Global Positioning System) and a hunger for adventure are all you need. There are now caches hidden in 122 countries." See www.geocaching.com, and plan a great day in the outdoors with grandchildren, family or friends. Read all about our hike at http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=10400 * Former "candystore emperor of Bayonne" and poet Herschel Silverman (www.2young2retire.org/herschel.html) has a new book: Lift-Off: New and Selected Poems of Herschel Silverman, "a 40-year retrospective of this unsung Beat, from his late 50s/early 60s Beat poems to his most recent experimental Lift-Off poems," said the pre-publication press release. (Water Row Booms and Long Shot Productions, 2002). For more information, www.longshot.org or dshot@mingspring.com * Asset classes is a term used in the financial world to describe types of investment categories, but the work of The Madii Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to community transformation defines assets as "strengths, skills, capacities, resiliencies, opportunities and resources...Asset mapping focuses on opportunities present within the community, not weaknesses or threats. This opportunity-based philosophy means that the community capitalizes on solutions and dreams." www.madii.org/ * Inspiring Women Over 50, a project designed by Stephanie Marston (Reclaiming Ourselves at Midlife), seeks women who have done amazing, inspiring things after the age of 50. "It has to be something different from what they've been doing earlier in their lives. Maybe they changed careers and began a whole new path, took up a new sport, or artistic pursuit, perhaps they took an amazing adventure, started an organization, a new business...I am open to all possibilities. If you know of such a woman or are one yourself please contact me: Stephanie Marston at samarston@earthlink.net. http://www.stephaniemarston.com * Congratulations to Sonia Pressman Fuentes, Speaker, Author, Eat First--You Don't Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter, for being "top 20 all-time royalty earner" at Xlibris. Read her story at: www.2young2retire.org/soniafuentes.htm * Calling all grandparents in the Twin Cities. Grandkidsandme.com founder, Don Schmidtz (www.2young2retire.org/donschmitz.htm) has started Grandkid Days this summer. "Get Dirty with Gertens" Friday, July 12, 2002, 9:30-1:30 PM. Ages: 6-106. "Backstage at the Opera" Friday, June 14, 2002, 11:30-4:45 PM. Ages: 8-80. "Down the River with Grandma and Gramps" Saturday, August 3, 2002. "Walker Art Grandparent Day" Friday, September 20, 2002, 9:30-1:00 PM. Preschoolers and their grandparents. Register: 651-695-1988 or on line at www.grandkidsandme.com. Seating is limited for all events. (Special rates are available for groups four or larger)
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On "Rightsizing Work Itself": * Great job...one of the first things that sealed the deal between [my spouse and I] was a discussion we had in the first week of knowing each other. We both agreed that "you are not your job," no matter how dedicated one was to a career. Work can be very rewarding, but should be in the context of a rich life. So thanks for enriching ours. * I could also relate to your thoughts on work and how it is all consuming and can affect other parts of your life that are so important to being totally fulfilled. I have spent many hours working to build employment programs for mature workers for the last 16 years. I love it, but the scales have tipped too far towards my work life. It is tough for me to get out of a mind set that has taken over my life. I have 8 weeks of vacation that I must take before June 30, 2002. There is no way that I am going to take all that time. * I just wanted to write and let you know you have done a wonderful job with your website. I have always sensed that I will never retire as long as I love what I am doing! I wish you continued success in encouraging others to not just sit back but to go out and volunteer, etc.
On Ageism in Advertising: * I've worked in consumer product marketing, for 4 big national companies and 3 international ad agencies, for more than 4 decades. This subject interests me a lot. One of the first projects I had as a young advertising man at J Walter Thompson, in 1964, was to see if the agency's media buyers were giving a fair shake to a JWT client, the Readers Digest. Of course they weren't, then as now. They weren't reading the magazine, weren't recommending it, either. The same thing happens in television programming. The network programming gatekeepers are in their 20s and 30s, and what they want to place on television is material directed at their generation. They don't understand any other kind, and the people who do are no longer working to find fresh material that isn't age-specific. I speak from long experience here. The outrage is this: our generation owns the corporations that pay the bills. There has been a disconnect on all this...but we have been left out of the voting somehow. The money that is wasted on courting young consumers--who are demonstrably the least loyal of any buying group--is massive, and it's our money. This all is ripe for some sort of boycott. * I love being "ignored" by advertising! Suggestions and comments? We've got Big Ears for you!
Marika and Howard Please Subscribe, Cancel or Make Changes here http://lists.webvalence.com/sites/tooyoungtoretire/listArchive/
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