Wise, funny, and practical, The Swedish Art of Aging Well is a gentle and welcome reminder that, no matter your age, there are always fresh discoveries ahead, and pleasures both new and familiar to be enjoyed every day.
—-Amazon.com
I haven’t bought the book and may or may not, but when I read the title the reward circuit in my brain lit up: “Yes, yes, yes!” Someone else loves exuberance.
exuberant: Full of unrestrained enthusiasm or joy.
Often our society looks down upon exuberant people as immature and stupid. I still remember a friend of mine years ago. One day she looked at me with surprise, “Maybe you do know something, Jean. I always thought you were so happy because you were stupid.” I love that memory. Being thought stupid is a small price to pay for joy.
So what about aging? I’m 83 and Andy will be 88 in a few weeks and no doubt some nasty things will be coming down the pike. But the best preparation for the future is to live today well. Life skills count for a lot and I’ve never been happier than I am right now. I will keep you posted.
February 3, 2023
I’m exuberant when I’m playing with my “paper” – especially now when a perfectly nice piece of A4 paper is suddenly “torn up”. I’ve ordered it from my library service, got to wait a bit it seems! I look forward to see what else I can exuberant about – I know I’m not into her “cleaning vibe” which is her previous book…
I’m not into the cleaning either. 🙂
I’ve heard about the Swedish Death Cleaning and it does make sense but I hate the name of it. A fellow blogger who has since passed away (Judy Miller) wrote about her doing it.
I’ve thought about it but haven’t done much yet. Occasionally my junk is useful in solving problems.
Wouldn’t this make a great retirement gift?
Could be. 🙂
I think you’re both amazing. I’m coming up on 83 in April and I have nowhere near the energy that either of you do. Especially Andy! I can remember a time when my uncle suggested a rather lengthy train trip to my father and he rejected it because “..we’re both in our 70’s and people that old shouldn’t be traipsing around the country!” When the weather warms a bit more I’m going to do some traipsing!
Yes, especially Andy. He’s slowing down a lot but keeps on truckin’. He has given hope to more than one person up there.
Well, this sure interests me. I have been filled with fear at what is ahead in the not too distant future. Of course, we may still have many years and then I will have wasted them by worrying.
Better than that, the more we learn stress management skills now the better off we will be when those problems come.
That book sounds lovely. I’ll have to check into it.
🙂
you have found the one word that describes what I am NOT! happy sometimes, joyful sometimes but never exuberant! not even as a child. Beau fits the word when we say go for a ride.
I think that’s one reason we love pups so much. 🙂
This reminded me of a conversation I had with the girl at work. I had said something extremely silly (can’t remember what) and I followed it with “well that right there says a lot about my maturity level”
This book might be worth reading.
Maturity is overrated. 😀
Well… I’ve seen her on Instagram
Some of her tips are to drink gin and to wear stripes.
She’s kinda entertaining in a way but I don’t be buying her book.
I’ve watched many videos though on Swedish Death Cleaning.
She wrote a book but it’s not her idea originally.
It’s a Swedish tradition for people of a certain age to start getting rid of their clutter and things before they die rather than leave a huge mess for their children. One of the ideas is to “gift” items to the people you want to have them before you die. Evidently most young people just don’t want it.
I’ve recently given my nieces several things and my best friend too.
You know, just in case.
I think it’s more fun to come up with our personalized versions of doing it. I love the title. 🙂