THE TAKEAWAY Life Is Journey and Along the Way, We All Learn Some Valuable Lessons
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THE TAKEAWAY Life is journey and along the way, we all learn some valuable lessons. Growing Bolder gathers these bits of wisdom and advice from some of your favorite big names. + MEDICARE 1 GROWING BOLDER WITH Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner Better Than Ever Photo Courtesy of Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke Carl Reiner Dick Van Dyke A legend of American comedy who has won 12 Emmys as a One of the most beloved television stars in history, Dick writer, producer and performer, 96-year-old Carl Reiner Van Dyke, 92, has won a Tony award and five Emmys and has called the last five years the most productive of his life. authored five books, including Keep Moving and Other Tips and Truths about Aging. As long as your mind is healthy and you have something to So many young people today say they’d rather die than get old, contribute, the number of years that you’ve been on this earth and it’s just so sad. We’ve got to change the whole culture that should be seen as an asset, not a detriment. Contrary to what centers on being young, pretty and rich. Get rid of those voices in you may think, genes have little to do with how long you’ll live. your head that tell you that you’re too old to do something new. Neither of my parents lived as long as me, but for some reason We have to keep that childlike wonder about life alive. I’m I’m hanging in there. an amateur computer animator. I create 3D animations on my You’ve got to want to be a part of the living. I get up every computer, which is a really involving kind of a hobby. day and check the obits. If I’m not in there, I eat breakfast and What’s my takeaway? Just keep moving! People throw in go right to the computer. I can’t wait to see what interesting the towel and stop doing anything, and that’s when they start to things I’ll get to do next. Thank goodness for tweeting. It’s seize up. I tell everybody that moving makes you feel better. fascinating to me that I’m able to float out my opinions and my Make it your habit to move and you’ll be amazed! I’ve seen thoughts, many of them political, and see how others react. 90-year-old guys get off their walkers who didn’t believe that It’s very heartening to be politically active and in the mix they could do it. at my age. I wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times I get on the treadmill for as long as it feels right. Then I do imploring Supreme Court Justice Kennedy not to retire, and some resistance and strength training with weights. I’ve had got thousands of reactions. arthritis since I was 40 years old, but it doesn’t bother me I don't have many friends left, but Mel Brooks comes over because I stretch and I move every day. almost every night and we eat dinner and watch Jeopardy! I used The main thing is to get on your feet and get interested in to walk around the block and had to stop, so now I get on the something. Be aware of the mind-body connection, because a treadmill and then the stationary bike for 10 minutes every day. little blood and oxygen through your brain will change the way I think the most important thing for anyone is to have you think. And without exercise, you can’t do it. something to do when you get up that you can always look forward to. 2 GROWING BOLDER WITH Elizabeth Gilbert Curiosity is the Key to a Creative Life Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders I made a vow to myself when I was 16 that I would be a writer. I Before you know it, you’ll be actively co-creating your life never said I’d be great, or even successful, but writing revealed instead of simply shuffling through in a puddle of despair, something within me that I couldn’t access in any other way. shrugging your shoulders and accepting whatever happens For seven years, I got nothing but rejection letters. I persisted around you from day to day. because I had a passion for something that would allow me to The road to fear leads to despair and the belief that do more than just pay bills and die. Isn’t that the way you want tomorrow is going to be exactly the same as today. That belief to feel, too? I believe there’s something in us all that makes us is a lie, because we live in a world that’s in constant change. want to follow our curiosity wherever it takes us. You must emerge from fear and despair. Ask yourself what We all follow a path, and these little breadcrumbs of you can do to actively and willingly participate in the changes curiosity drop in front of us, tempting us to change our lives that are going on around you. Don’t settle for simply being a — or to at least think about things differently. Too many times, witness to your own life. Take control. we ignore our own curiosity and fail to fully participate in our Give in to your curiosity. own lives. We let our fear overcome our curiosity and our creativity. I define creative living as any life defined more by curiosity than by fear. Every day, we come upon a fork in the road. One Don’t settle way leads to opportunity and the other leads to fear, which keeps us from opportunity. You can choose to walk down the path of opportunity, and for simply being open your life to endless possibilities, or turn down the road of fear and avoid everything. a witness to I say this as someone who’s inherently a very frightened person. I’m nervous, high strung, anxious and sensitive. But here’s the key — I am just 1% more curious about the world your own life. than I am afraid of it. And that 1% has made all the difference. Curiosity is the key to Growing Bolder. If you can push Take control. past the fear and make a decision to pursue your curiosity and creativity, the world will open up to you. 3 GROWING BOLDER WITH Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Get in the Game of Life Photos: Esther Lin Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and a six-time NBA champion. That’s just the short list of kudos he can claim. Off the court, Abdul-Jabbar’s accomplishments are perhaps Wooden taught his young athletes much more than simply even more meaningful. He received the Presidential Medal how to play the game, Abdul-Jabbar notes. of Freedom in 2016, has earned widespread acclaim “Coach wanted us to go from having success on the for his writing, including op-eds about such topics as basketball court to having significant change in our lives,” culture and race. he says. “That enabled us to be good dads, good husbands, good He has authored nearly a dozen books, including an citizens.” autobiography, historical non-fiction, several novels and a Abdul-Jabbar also learned how to deal with adversity, memoir about his relationship with legendary basketball coach something he faced when diagnosed with a chronic form of John Wooden (Coach Wooden and Me). leukemia. He also underwent quadruple coronary bypass Abdul-Jabbar says Wooden meant everything to him. And surgery on his 68th birthday. the lessons he learned about life began on the very first day “Coach Wooden taught me that life is about learning to when the legendary coach scolded him for something seemingly accept the bad with the good,” he explains. “If you have the as trivial as putting on his socks incorrectly. right attitude, you can negotiate the ups and downs into the “The message was, if you don’t do the right things to best outcomes possible.” prepare, you won’t be ready for opportunity,” Abdul-Jabbar Abdul-Jabbar offered this advice, from his experiences on recalls. “Something as simple as a blister can keep you from and off the court: “Now in my 70s, I see very clearly that the practice. And if you don’t practice for Coach Wooden, you road to a life well lived is paved with small details, the little don’t play—and life is all about getting in the game.” stuff, the daily grind and doing that to the best of your ability.” 4 GROWING BOLDER WITH Herbie Hancock Your Possibilities Are Endless Photos: Graham Denholm / Stringer/ Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer I want you to do something. Sit down at a piano. Put your I am at a very interesting point in my life. I’m 79 years old. thumb on middle C. Now, put your pinky on the C an octave The time has gone by in a flash. I’m blessed by the people who higher. What’s between your fingers? Seven white keys and five surround me, but none more so than my wife, who has been my black. That’s it. That’s all the notes there are. Yet there are rock for over 50 years. countless songs. From just those notes come infinite That brings us to the takeaway. Life is about the possibilities.