Yet as these boomers move into their forties, fifties and sixties, they are finding that there are plenty of new challenges to embrace. Life is not over, retirement is not inevitable, but change is. The lives they have known are changing and while some fight it others embrace it.
What to Do with Change
Many boomers were at the start of social revolutions that changed society dramatically. Roles traditionally reserved along gender, race and class lines have been erased. Boomers are just as likely to be bus drivers as they are to be doctors, teachers as they are to be janitors. For some, retirement is not wanted or even feasible in this economy; so what happens to these boomers as they age.
How Aging is Viewed In Society
Much of what boomers do is tied up with how they and the society in which they live view aging. According to Reb Zalman, founder of the Spiritual Eldering Institute, in an interviewed by Sara Davidson in her work Leap [Doubleday 2008], society has practiced a set of models for aging that no longer are applicable within society. These include a medical model in which aging is viewed as a disease to be treated, the die in the saddle model where aging is ignored in favor of working until death or the "it's my turn" model in which the aging believe it is their turn to do exactly what they want.
While these models hold some validity, in isolation each fails according to Zalman, to meet the needs of the aging boomer population. Zalman suggests that the forties through sixties is a time for making peace with the past, for beginning a course of unparalleled learning or becoming an elder who inspires or provides wisdom for younger people. Aging is no longer a death sentence; it is an opportunity for growth and change in its most positive form.
Resistance to Aging
Resistance can be found on all sides of the issue. Some of the aging boomers don't want another opportunity for growth, some simply want to live out their retirements either working or traveling or just sitting. Others are fighting empty nest syndromes, divorcing spouses and looking for some kind of newness to give life a lift. Younger folks do not help the situation when they see their parents as done with life, perfect only for baby sitting or providing that extra financial help when necessary. Some on both sides refuse to see aging as an ongoing process that involves change and growth and possibly a new way of living.
Life Choices for Baby Boomers
Boomers have a choice to make. Do they want to embrace their rocking chairs, or die at their desks, or possibly try something new. Can they take their wisdom and experience and channel it into new careers or even just new ways of doing and thinking about things.
For some this is a time to go back to school and study what they have always wanted to learn. For others, it is a time to set up a job on their own terms, embracing a life long calling that was not possible while raising kids and paying off houses.
A person can go back to school studying for a degree to make a career change. Another might choose to work with young children after years of high school teaching. Other boomers have developed careers of volunteering at a hospitals and schools because they feel it is an opportunity to give back to the community.
Boomers are changing the world again, but not with rallies and protests. Rather they are actively making change through the new work they are embracing. This is not to say that many are not ill, tired, and unhappy with how the world they wanted to revolutionize turned out. But many are still willing to be the change they want to see and to work actively for it. Aging is no longer a sentence, it is an opportunity and its growth must be encouraged.
Kathy Schlossmacher - I am a former teacher and social worker with degrees in psychology, social work and theology. I have many personal interests including ...
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