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• The 2young2retire Challenge 2008
  
• Affordable Ways to Make a Difference
• Are You Over-Nourished?
  
  The beginning is always today. – Mary Woolstonecraft Shelley
  

New Year's Resolutions sometimes last as long as, well, January 22. We have something a little different to propose: the 2young2retire Challenge 2008, your way to start the year off with some intentions that could set you up not just for 2008, but for life. You don't want to make the mistake of over-promising and under-delivering, least of all to yourself, right? So, make these intentions doable. For most of us, vowing to drop a pound a day is, as they say, strictly from hunger. Aiming to shrink by one dress size or notch in your belt by December 31 is more like it, and sets up behavior you can adopt more happily. Here's the challenge:

Be the healthiest you've ever been

First, dump the idea that declining health is a 'natural' part of the aging process. Don't predict for yourself what you don't want. Whether or not you're a fan of the law of attraction, there is a lot to be said for closely examining so-called conventional wisdom and seeing if there just might be alternative versions you can just as easily embrace. Arm yourself with some facts. Here's one: the rate of disability in older people is what's actually declining. Dr. Kenneth Manton, a research professor for demographic studies at Duke University in Durham, N.C., projects Medicare savings from reduced chronic disabilty of $73 billion for 2009 alone. New drugs and medical technology to manage heart disease contribute, of course, as well as control of diet and smoking cessation. More info: http://www.prb.org/Articles/2007/DisabilityandAging.aspx

As you probably suspect, vigorous exercise is not optional after 50, maybe even earlier. Read all about it in Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like You are 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond by Cris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, covered in 2young2retire: the Blog, and highly recommend. So a 30-minute stroll three times a week is just a good place to start if you haven't been moving your body. Give some thought to yoga, an excellent practice at any age, but especially beneficial in later life.

Keep your brain healthy, too. Heed these words from The Healthy Brain Initiative: Most Important to our ability to live our lives well is the combination of mental processes we call 'cognition; or 'knowing.' This combination includes the ability to learn near things, intuition, judgement, language, and remembering. Having a clear, active mind at any age is important, but as we get older it can mean the difference between dependence and independent living. http://www.cdc.gov/aging/roadmap/

Need we mention the health benefits of having a purpose in life, something that gets you up in the morning, eager to start your day?

Curb your enthusiasm for stuff

Whether or not you accept predictions of an economic downturn this year, some belt-tightening never hurt anyone, especially when you remember what our over-consumption is doing to the planet. And that was even before Tata Group of India introduced the $2,500 Nano. Yikes! Maybe this holiday season's disappointing sales was good news in disguise. If mall-hopping is your financial achilles heel, don't despair. Go without your credit cards just once, and see how that feels. If nothing else, it could force you to postpone a purchase and sometimes that kind of procrastination is just what's needed. No cheating on the ATMs.

Create list of every discretionary purchase you might be considering for 2008. Clothes, household items, toys, equipment, travel. Examine it carefully, making distinctions between what you perceive as needs and what are clearly wants. Then ask yourself, what's the worst that could happen if you were to postpone this purchase until 2009. Might there be another way to acquire a particular item, e.g. borrow it, or justify the expense, e.g. travel as a volunteer. Enjoy the peace of mind of cutting or even eliminating credit card debt.

Become Fearless

For some of you, the idea of becoming fearless conjures up a physical challenge, e.g. climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro or sky-diving or another extreme sport like kite-boarding -- a favorite of people in the 50s, 60s and beyond. No doubt, there is a thrill in pushing the envelope of one's physical ability and surviving to tell the tale. Adventure sports and travel will be the beneficiaries of this trend.

But it can take other, less hazardous forms. For us, fearlessness is seizing and celebrating the 'what can they do to me' moment. You stop caring about the opinion of others and start making choices about your life based on some inner necessity, possibility even an intimation of mortality (to borrow liberally from Wordsworth). As your role as primary bread-winner drops away, you may feel ready to take on risks that express a buried calling or passion. You might find yourself among the thousands of 50 and 60-somethings who are first time entrepreneurs. Or you may be attracted to tackling a problem in your community, running for political office, or becoming an activist like Maggie Kuhn, who founded the Gray Panthers at 65 when she was forced to retire.

• Retire on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future, the second edition of Fred Brocks' newly “revised and expanded” book came out in December.

• The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart. The first book that makes the reader part of an on-going experiment on the power of thoughts.
  

POTPOURRI

• Freelance journalist on the aging beat, Elizabeth Pope, would like to talk to you if you "did an internship or apprenticeship and wound up with your dream job." Help her make the pitch with your story. Contact: elizabethpope@mac.com
  
  

• Class size is growing. Teachers are overwhelmed. Many schools are cutting backs on 'non-essentials' like music and art (huh?). If these daily realities doesn't make you as mad as hell, you've been spending way too much time mall-hopping or other equally trivial pursuits. But “What if there were a simple way to provide students with the books, technology, and supplies that they need to learn? What if people from all walks of life could connect directly with public schools, learn about specific classroom needs, and choose how to help?” There is. This text is from the home page of Donors Choose, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, that puts even relatively small donations to work, (http://www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html), e.g. Mrs. T's class in Providence, RI, needs clipboards for field trips. Cost $219. Already raised: $120. Got the extra $99? Check it out : https://secure.donorschoose.org/donors/donation.html?proposalid=114136

  Found this on Springwise: Your Daily Fix of Entrepreneurial Ideas, http://www.springwise.com/
  
  

• Hunger and malnourishment plague much of the developing world. But we have quite the opposite problem here in the U.S. and other wealthy nations. It's over-nourishment and the toll is apparent: obesity, diabetes and heart disease. But this is no news to most of us. Now it's official. Here is the new Food Pyramid, modified for Older Adults: http://nutrition.tufts.edu/docs/pdf/releases/ModifiedMyPyramid.pfd
  
  
• An attitude of gratitude is more than a clever phrase. There are some who argue that it belongs in the survivalist toolbox for the 21st century. Here's an international nonprofit organization that provides resources to bring the gentle power of gratefulness into your life. http://www.gratefulness.org/index.htm