The Courage To Grow Old

Here is Barbara Crafton at her best—funny, warm, direct, honest, and vulnerable—on aging. “I think growing older is both funny and sad, but mostly it just makes me grateful to be alive and able to reflect. I have been an Episcopal priest for 33 years and have had extensive experience in ministering with the elderly. Now, I am growing old myself. I hate it when people are ashamed of being old. We should be proud!” she proclaims. Join her in this celebration of life!

Here is Barbara Crafton at her best—funny, warm, direct, honest, and vulnerable—on aging. “I think growing older is both funny and sad, but mostly it just makes me grateful to be alive and able to reflect. I have been an Episcopal priest for 33 years and have had extensive experience in ministering with the elderly. Now, I am growing old myself. I hate it when people are ashamed of being old. We should be proud!” she proclaims. Join her in this celebration of life!

In this enjoyable and informative book, authors Lofgren and Bhola challenge women to list the top three friends they'd call if their lives suddenly fell apart, thereby pointing out that many women may not have the friends they want when they need them the most. Each author had her own profound experience that awakened her to the importance of female friends. Together they spent three years interviewing women about how they build and nurture their friendship circles, and exploring how and why friends contribute so richly to our lives. Their findings and stories will help women realize that friendships are as important to well-being as good health and sound finances-and should never be left to chance. In fact, according to studies: When women hang out with friends, their bodies release the hormone oxytocin, which combats stress and creates calm. Having friends reduces the risk of physical health issues and allows us to more easily recover after the death of a partner. And, women with friends are 26 percent less likely to develop dementia. Knowing the importance of friendship, however, may not always drive women to make or nurture friendships, even though doing so would ensure they have a safety net of women they can rely on when life is good or when all hell breaks loose. But who doesn't fear being alone or lonely when they move, divorce, change jobs, retire, face an empty nest, or suffer the loss of a partner or dear friend? That's why the authors encourage women to be intentional about nurturing a safety net of friends to fill unspeakable voids, provide certainty in uncertain times, and offer a safeguard of love and support. Packed with fun and inspiring stories and suggestions, the book covers everything from ways to keep virtual friendships alive to getting over and moving beyond friendship irritants and breakdowns. Women I Want to Grow Old With will guide and inspire women of all ages to breathe new life and excitement into our relationships by seeing female friends as "intention holders"-women who encircle us with love and support. These are women we love to laugh with and occasionally stir up trouble with! They serve as thought partners, voices of reason, and devil's advocates. They let us down and, once in a while, infuriate us. We forgive and so do they. These "women we keep on speed dial" literally and figuratively stand by our sides, cheering us on or helping us carry our burdens as we cross yet another finish line. And if we're lucky enough, no matter our age, we'll find women we want to grow old with!

Grow old on purpose. This book invites readers to navigate a purposeful path from adulthood to elderhood with choice, curiosity, and courage. Everyone is getting old; not everyone is growing old. But the path of purposeful aging is accessible to all—and it's fundamental to health, happiness, and longevity. With a focus on growing whole through developing a sense of purpose in later life, Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old? celebrates the experience of aging with inspiring stories, real-world practices, and provocative questions. Framed by a long conversation between two old friends, the book reconceives aging as a liberating experience that enables us to become more authentically the person we always meant to be with each passing year. In their bestseller Repacking Your Bags, Richard J. Leider and David A. Shapiro defined the good life as “living in the place you belong, with people you love, doing the right work, on purpose.” This book builds on that definition to offer a purposeful path for living well while aging well.

A groundbreaking approach to aging from one of France's best- known clinical psychologists. How should we accept growing old? It's an inevitable progression and yet in Western society the very subject of aging is often taboo and shrouded in anxiety and shame. Not anymore, says Marie de Hennezel, an internationally renowned clinical psychologist and bestselling author. Now that our lives are longer and richer than ever before, it's imperative to demystify our greatest fear and cultivate a positive awareness of aging. In this timely and essential book, de Hennezel offers a fresh perspective on the art of growing old. She confronts head-on the inevitable grief we sustain at the loss of our youth and explains how refusing to age and move forward in life is actually what makes us become old. Combining personal anecdotes with psychological theory, philosophy, and eye-opening scientific research from around the world, she shows why we should look forward to embracing everything aging has to offer in terms of human and spiritual enrichment. The Art of Growing Old is a thought-provoking, brave, and uplifting meditation on the later years as they should be lived.

In this warm, sensitive, fact-filled book, Paul Tournier deals specifically with many aspects of aging: society's attitude towards the elderly; second careers; the quality of life; financial difficulties; boredom; health; loneliness; and facing death. He believes we must all learn to grow old, and that the process is most successfully accomplished when we prepare and plan for it throughout life. Tournier offers a variety of suggestions to help make growing old not an end but a new beginning, filled with purpose and hope. He suggests ways to remain active and to use leisure to its best advantage without letting it become a tyrant. He also provides insights on taking up new interests, such as becoming involved with young people and new ideas, and learning to pray, to meditate, to acquire wisdom, and to draw increasing strength and inspiration from the reality of divine presence and power.

Acton Academy: The one-room schoolhouse for the twenty-first century Seeking a 21st century education for their children, Laura and Jeff Sandefer jumped off the track of conventional school and created a new model for learning. They created Acton Academy as a better school where learning is made practical and meaningful and where students begin a lifelong Hero's Journey to discover their true potential. Using the Socratic method, elements of the Montessori approach and state-of-the-art online instruction, Acton guides students toward independence and self-motivation, helping them find the courage to grow into the person they were meant to be. Soon, other parents wanted to start their own Acton Academies, and less than a decade from the seven founding students' first Socratic discussion, Acton has spread around the world. ​Courage to Grow is the Sandefer family's personal quest for their own children's education and happiness. Their story also contains a path for other parents who want to give their children the freedom to take ownership of their own education and to start their own school. The treasure at the end is much larger than Laura ever expected--a quickly growing network of dedicated, curious young people and parents who are not afraid to set them free.