While most everyone wants to age successfully, what “successful” actually means is different to almost everybody. Yet regardless of the definition, there is a definite similarity in the many different ways people age successfully. The real question is, can we do it too?

In my work I’ve always believed we can learn from others, so I’ve long profiled ‘Super Seniors’ as a way to inspire and help others learn about some of the traits gerontologists identify that contribute to living a long, healthy, happy life – qualities often referred to in describing successful aging.

There certainly are a growing number of super seniors these days. Of the four daily newspapers I read, it was terrific to see over a one-week period a story representing a senior from each decade – 70 to 100, doing things many people would likely categorize as successful aging.

First was 77-year old Anne Garrett, one of 8500 racers in the 26th Annual Carlsbad 5000, touted as the World’s Fastest 5K, who broke the American female record in the 75-79 age group. Anne, who only started running four years ago and doesn’t consider herself a competitive runner, had no idea she’d broken the record – she said she just likes to run!

The next day I read about an 85-year old British sailor, Anthony Smith of London, who crossed the Atlantic with three fellow friends on a raft! Their 2-month expedition was done in part, he said, to raise awareness about the environment and to prove that older people are capable of embarking on such adventures. “What else do you do when you get on in years?”

The day after that I read about 91-year old Ravi Shankar, the legendary Indian musician and composer hailed as the “Godfather of World Music” by lifelong confidante and Beatle icon, George Harrison, who is gearing up for his latest world tour! With landmark performances that have included Woodstock, sharing stages with Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Beatle greats Harrison and Ringo Starr and receiving accolades from U2 singer, Bono, Shankar is a 3-time Grammy Award winner who made his U.S. concert debut at Carnegie Hall in 1938 and last year released his most recent album, “Collaborations,” with Harrison. Shankar claims his quest is to remain musically and intellectually engaged by continuing to learn new things and always keep looking forward.

Certainly this type of wisdom comes with age, and there are few who demonstrate it on a daily basis more than those serving in our judicial system, like the 103-year old Federal Judge I read about who is still hearing cases! U.S. Federal District Judge, Wesley Brown, has been presiding over Wichita courtrooms for 49 years and is the oldest working federal judge in the nation -- one of only 4 appointees by President Kennedy still on the bench. Federal judgeships are lifetime appointments, and evidently Brown takes that term seriously. Of the 1294 sitting Federal Judges, Brown is one of 516 on “Senior Status,” a form of semi-retirement that allows a judge to collect his salary but work at a reduced case level if he wants. However, with the rising number of caseloads, combined with the rare number of new judgeships, senior judges keep the Federal court system afloat. Since reaching his senior status in 1979, no one has logged more service than Brown.

“I do it to be a public service,” Brown said. “You’ve got to have a reason to live. As long as you perform a public service, you have reason to live.”

While each of these people’s activities varies greatly, and none being done with the intention of being referred to as a ‘super senior’ or ‘successful ager,’ they all do seem to share a trait recently identified in a Yale study that is proving to be a critical factor in Successful Aging: adaptive competence.

In lay terms, adaptive competence is the ability to maintain a positive attitude and bounce back from life’s curveballs, be it medical, social, financial and/or physical. Resilience is another trait often used to describe one’s ability to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and move on after any type of set back.

Yet while none of these stories identify a specific challenge, perse, to many people, being of advanced age alone, is enough. We live in such a youth-obsessed culture that many think age alone deters people from doing things – be it running a 5K at 77, crossing the Atlantic on a raft at 85, preparing for a world tour at 91, or serving as a Federal Judge at 103.

If you don’t think what you think matters, or could possibly affect your longevity, think again. According to Dr. Rebecca Levy at Yale University, what we think directly correlates with how long we live.  Levy studied the longevity of people in their 50s as a function of their perceptions about aging and found that people who have a negative mindset regarding growing older, died an average of 7 years sooner than those who have a more positive outlook.

But this is not about living longer perse, but rather what it takes to age successfully and maintain a good quality of life no matter what age we are. It’s evident that those who think positively about their lives and what they do with it, don’t think negatively about their age – which ultimately, may help make life worth living and successful aging actually a choice.

The choice is yours …

Kelly Ferrin, gerontologist, longevity expert and author of “What’s Age Got To Do With It? Secrets to Aging in Extraordinary Ways” has been studying aging and retirement issues for over 25 years. She was one of the first to ever receive a degree in this field from the prestigious Andrus School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, the top school in the nation for the study of age-related issues.

website: kellyferrin.com ••• email: ageangel@earthlink.net