Is the Secret to Age Denying It?

For many years now, I have been hiding a dreaded secret that threatened to reduce my appeal in the job market and decrease my pay. And the secret is ... I am getting older.

On Monday (July 24^th) I celebrated my birthday. For me, the shocker is I turned 66 years old, one year past the official retirement age in America.

The longer I live in denial of this, the better. I hope never to retire.

Working gives us identity, keeps us connected, and forces the brain and body to keep firing. And to keep caring about what is going on in the world.

Turning 65 means Social Security, Medicare, and senior discounts as reparations: "I'm old. Pity me." The rest of you get to be younger; I get a couple of bucks off a movie ticket. Although I may never use this discount: I am too vain.

The Baby Boom generation is made up of people born 1946 to 1964. The first Boomers started turning 65 in 2011. Every single day since then, 10,000 more people join their ranks, and this will go on through 2030; by then 70 million people will be 65+, up from 54 million in 2019.

This is a huge, untapped resource. Companies cite a supposed labor shortage, never mind that almost 40% of able-bodied, under-age-65 people are at home and aren't looking for work. Older people working longer is one solution, yet employers continue shedding older, higher-paid workers.

Some 56% of people who leave a job after age 50 do so at the behest of their employers, ProPublica reported a few years back. The figure likely is even higher now.

Companies prefer to hire younger, cheaper employees. It is their loss.

It's okay, though. I went out on my own as a writer and media strategist seven years ago, and it has been rewarding and illuminating — and fun.

The great thing is the new doors that open up after old doors close on your fingers. And the new people who reinvigorate your life, and the new skills and insights you can learn along the way.

Keep 'em comin'.

My anti-aging battle began few months after my 50^th birthday, when I took a job on-air at CNBC. Upon learning this news, my ex-wife's new husband told me, "TV, huh? Don't they like 'em young?" This hadn't occurred to me until then.

Some years later, an old friend from my college paper warned me: "Once your age starts with a '6' handle, you're dead. Everybody at work stops listening to you."

The problem — and the solution — is that many of us in our 60s feel closer to age 45. We are the youngest older generation ever.

My weight is down almost 40 pounds from 15 years ago. I work out three or four times a week. Happily, I still have a full head of hair, free of any spikes of gray, and, even if I didn't, I have prodigious energy and curiosity.

My skills as a writer, editor, pixel pundit and adviser are sharper now than ever before — in part because I have lived longer and learned more. I feel like Neo in the sequel to "The Matrix," when he has learned how to fly.

You can't know what to search on Google about a particular thing if you never have heard that it happened. This reminds me of what a younger anchor once told me when I worked at Fox: "Wait — are you saying 'Mission: Impossible' was a TV series before it was a movie?"

I have maybe 20 years left, and I want to fill them up with as much joy and contribution as I possibly can. If I could offer advice to those who are younger, it would be this:

• Feel better about life's possibilities. It will make you feel happier and healthier, and the universe rewards positivity and hope.
• Enjoy the journey more, rather than obsessing over where you want to get.
• Lastly, stay connected to friends and family (even those who irritate you), and let go of grudges and old offenses. This frees up the mind and soul for better things ahead.