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COURTESY TIMOTHY GREENFIELD-SANDERS
Jo Ann Jenkins will give a talk at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Mission Memorial Auditorium.
Put aside your fear of aging and embrace the possibilities for continued growth and fulfillment, said Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP and author of “Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age.”
Jenkins will give a talk at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Mission Memorial Auditorium.
“I wrote ‘Disrupt Aging’ to change the conversation about what it means to grow older,” she said in an email. “I realized that the way people are aging is changing, but many of our attitudes and stereotypes about aging are not.”
This includes ageism, which Jenkins called “pervasive” and “one of the last frontiers of discrimination.”
“Part of disrupting aging is fighting through these barriers, changing institutions that get in our way and innovating new solutions so we can choose the way we want to live and age,” she said.
Jenkins offered three ways to disrupt aging:
1. Own your age
The experiences that have gotten you to this moment in life make you who you are. Own them.
2. Take stock
Take five minutes to reflect on the ideas you have about your age, both positive and negative, and jot them down. What words come to mind about your current age? Are there more positive or negative words? In what situations do you feel comfortable sharing your age? Why? Have you ever lied about your age? Why?
3. Take action
Be on the lookout for accidental ageist language around you. If you hear someone say, “I’m too old or young for that,” get curious, ask them why they feel that way. Identify someone whose approach to owning their age you admire. What can you take from their experience and apply to your own life?
To reserve a seat for Jenkins’ talk, call 877-926-8300 or click here. AARP Hawaii is also sponsoring the AARP Hawaii Disrupt Aging Pavilion at the festival, with a full day of panels May 7.
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