Jane McKeel, Resident, Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads

My Experience with Reimagining Aging

Reimagining aging for me requires ignoring society’s endless messages extolling youth…and instead, finding the gifts of this life stage. For example: recognizing the need to keep an older body moving. In GHBC’s fitness classes I encountered line dancing and Pilates, which are both mainstays now in my weekly exercise. My lifelong fascination with nutrition met serious support from our Dining Services Director and Nutritionist, who engage with residents and their dietary concerns.

The Chesapeake Bay – our nation’s largest estuary – is in our backyard; protecting this vital and precious ecosystem has proved harder than you’d think. The resident Green Team at GHBC advocates, as individuals, for bay restoration; we sometimes call this “senior power” – using the wisdom of our advanced years to support the common good. Staying engaged in the world is encouraged at Goodwin House. Eleven years ago Betty Allan and I founded the Green Team, which enjoys the support of management as it continues to grow and promote a more sustainable earth.

As psychologist-educator William James explained:  Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.