It's an inner adventure jingle. Extroverts won't get it!

Oh. Right.

So, she's sitting there quietly contemplating her navel meditating and watching the flowers grow, and at the same time, she's having her own little little adventure.

That's nice.

I think she is describing contentment and appreciation of the minutiae of the day to day. The sign of a life well lived in my view.
'What is life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare' (or something!)

That's what Mrs Brown always says (that's nice) but with an edge of menace to it

The thing is, I don't believe her.

petallus

I had Mrs Brown in mind. I'm glad you got it.

Hey!

I loved this post and completely relate to what Sharon says. Some of you sound downright jealous! I think by sixty-something (I'm 65, just so I'm not accused of hiding anything ) you know who you are and what you want. Someone mentioned health - yes, poor health can spoil lots of plans. After cancer I had to make new plans, slow down, adjust, but the bottom line is I'm still alive and intend to make the most of it. And indeed, who cares what others think! I see teenagers and even those in their 20s and 30s so pressured by what I call the "tyranny of cool" that they can't enjoy being themselves for fear of not being accepted by those who dictate what is in. Enough already. Who dictates what is "cool" anyway?

If you have good health,no family worries, close friends,no money problems then life in your sixties is good.

Oh the blissful freedom of being a boring old frump in beige.

Jigsaw puzzles, knitting, tele, slippers.

And, unlike many old folk, I don't still feel like a teenager inside. I feel like a 72 year old inside.

I was born the same year (1951) and agree with most things in the article. etheltbags1 , like you there are some things I can't do or find it hard to do, due to new health problems (not age related!) but I have found new pleasures, and the greatest are the grandchildren. And my little dog keeps me busy and active, as does the pure pleasure of being alive! I feel free in a way I never felt when I was younger, and it is great! I don't take any nonsense from anyone, and I am finally allowed to read and read.

I admit to being jealous leurMamie.

"And Lord contentment still I crave,
Because Thou savest such."

I used the wrong thingammie for the poster's name. Sorry.

I think that if one is really content and doesn't care what people think, one won't feel the need to go public about it. One will just get on with it, quietly.

Exactly, bags!

Perhaps not in you are a writer!

I am whom I am, always have been, and age doesn't come into it. I do not understand these people constantly harping on about their age.

Like the writer of this blog I am more introvert than extrovert and have gone through life quite happily doing my own thing and continue to do so. If her 'thing' now is quietly contemplating her navel, then that is fine. It just isn't mine and never has been.

My aim is to continue on in life as physically and mentally active as I can manage and always trying to fit a quart into a pint pot. Not everybody's idea of a good life, but it is mine - and that is the point we are all different and you can no more generalise about the ideal life for older people than you can for any other age group.

Well said, FlicketyB, I was going to say much the same thing, we are all so different that there isn't a onesizefitsall for being older.One woman's happiness and contentment is another woman's poison etc.

If she were writing a private journal for herself and not wanting to publish her writings, I'd agree, petallus, but as it is I think she, like most other writers, does care about what people think of her writing and wants to know. That's slightly different from not caring what people think of her, but not much.

I never intended to grow old.
Had enough excitement in my life.
My mother used to say" oh for a little humdrum"
People who want to blog, blog often about amazingly trivial things. Can't see the point myself" I'm always a bit disappointed by blogs when you've read the hype and then think hmmmm. But this one has an infectious smile. So forgiven.

She's only done the blog to call attention to herself as a writer. Hence the Twitter link, where she goes on about her (one or two) books.

Hello people, it's me, Sharon!

thanks for all your thoughts! I've never hidden my age; I'm 63 going on 64, and I can't wait to be 65 because that's when I retire...

Perhaps I feel this way because I did all the exciting and adventurous things when I was young. Hitchhiked around South America at 19, and overland to India at 23, lived in an ashram, moved to Germany, etc etc. I crave calmness now!

I do feel the adventure is about to begin. It might not be visible for others, but there are invisible inner challenges that keep me constantly on my toes, and fresh. Did I really come across as arrogant? Well, I guess I'm a terrible writer! I meant to be encouraging; there's so much pressure for us to be young and outrageous and sexy, and I really don't believe we have to play that game.

Anyway, thanks again. Great response!

Oh dear, jinglebellsfrocks, I just read your post... I don't think you've got it right. I've always been a journalist, always written articles here and there -- since I was 18, and long before I was a novelist. I was approached by my publisher's publicist to write a column for gransnet, as many other authors are. As for Twitter --- I hate Twitter. But every now and then, when a book of mine is published, there's a flurry of promotion from my publisher and yes, I retweet their tweets, and that's it. I am more active on Facebook and hardly ever mention my books. Most of the people I interact with in daily life don't even know I'm an author, as I don't talk about it.

"I think that if one is really content and doesn't care what people think, one won't feel the need to go public about it. One will just get on with it, quietly."

I don't feel the need to go public about it. But I happened to read that article by the minor celebrity going on and on about her wild amazing life at 60, and I keep hearing older women complaining about being invisible -- so, being a writer myself, I thought that might be a relevant topic.

By the way -- meditation is decidedly not about "contemplating your navel". It's about learning to let go of the thoughts, moods and obsessions that hold us down, and is really a wonderful companion to growing older -- keeps the old neurons awake!