How to Stay Relevant While Aging
Anna Schmidt
Stay Relevant
Click through to learn how I have taken the less-worn path as I've aged to combat feelings of “irrelevance” or being outmoded.
Older Woman at a Conference
As we age, suddenly we are working among people young enough to be our adult children—even our grandchildren. We may go to a conference and find ourselves surrounded by younger faces with ideas that are SO 21st century.
Older Woman Feeling Irrelevant
As we start moving away from the working world, we may start to feel that our ideas are outmoded, or even that we are irrelevant.
Stop!
Stop! How? Ignore whatever you think is your “pre-arranged plan”. Draw on whatever you can to get creative and forge a new plan.
A New Hobby
Consider exploring a new hobby, especially something with a steep learning curve that will challenge and engage you deeply.
No Thank You
Learn to say, “No, thank you.” Not just to events or chores that take up your time, but to all offers that you simply know won’t work for you.
Listen to Yourself
Listen to yourself. Whatever you can truly contribute to the world is a part of you -- it can’t become stale or unusable. So search for the right avenue for that.
Just Chill Out
Know when to just chill out. Great ideas for how to turn things on their ear come when you are fed, rested, exercised and have finished today’s crossword. Your new path will still be there tomorrow.
Anna Schmidt
Anna Schmidt has been writing most of her life and her "day jobs" have all contributed to the creative process: marketing and communications for two international corporations; teaching at the college level; and running a Mom-and-Pop adult daycare business with her husband. During those years she also published four books on eldercare as well as co-writing PARKINSON’S DISEASE FOR DUMMIES under her maiden name of Jo Horne.Now retired and focused ONLY on writing, she splits her time between Wisconsin and Florida. Having been raised in the hills of Appalachia in a town that is often not even a dot on the map, she went from being that small town country kid to being a big city adult — loving the noise and chaos and diversity of city life. But that small town girl is alive and well and has a tendency to show up in one character or another in her stories.Her new novel is The Winterkeeper:
