What does ageing gracefully mean to you?

Our ideas about ageing and what it means to grow older have changed over the years.  

It’s no longer about fading discreetly into the background; retirees are starting new businesses, travelling the world, defying fashion and style “rules” about dressing your age and in many cases having more fun than the younger generations below!

Whether it’s about staying true to yourself, pursuing new hobbies, trying botox or avoiding it altogether, there’s no right or wrong way to grow older.

Celebrities like Helen Mirren are leading the way, showing that ageing can and should be viewed as something positive. She says:

“The best thing about being over 70 is being over 70. Certainly when I was 45, the idea of being 70 was like, ‘Arghhh!’

“But you only have two options in life: Die young or get old. There is nothing else. The idea of dying young when you’re 25 is kind of cool — a bit romantic, like James Dean.

“But then you realise that life is too much fun to do that. It’s fascinating and wonderful and emotional. So you just have to find a way of negotiating getting old psychologically and physically.”

This September on Silversurfers we’re exploring the idea of ageing gracefully and what it means to our community.

How do we grow older at a time when we’re living much longer?

Today we’re asking you: what does ageing gracefully mean to you? Or would you prefer to label it ageing disgracefully?