Aging Wildly: Ikigai and Kaizen Principles for an Unstoppable Life After 60

By Anne Jensen

A long life should also be a good life. In Aging Wildly, Anne Jensen — publisher of Pikes Peak Senior News and founder of the Senior Resource Center of Southern Colorado — shows how to refuse the narrow little box the world sometimes builds around older adults, and to live later life freely, deliberately, and on your own terms.

This is not another pillars-of-aging checklist. The essentials are all here: health, money, housing, transportation, connection, purpose, lifelong learning, and living independently for as long as possible. But they are carried by two Japanese ideas: ikigai, a reason to get up in the morning, and kaizen, the practice of getting a little better every day.

Drawing on Blue Zones wisdom, short Postcards from Japan, and the stories of real older adults, each chapter explores one useful principle and ends with two or three small steps you can actually take. Not someday. Now.

What's inside

• Ikigai: A reason to get up in the morning — work, family, faith, service, creativity, curiosity, or the animal waiting beside the bed. It can change as we change.
• Kaizen: Getting a little better every day. Walk ten minutes. Call one friend. Clear one drawer. Small steps create motion, and motion restores possibility.
• Blue Zones wisdom: Natural movement, belonging, purpose, everyday food, strong social circles and a regular way to slow down — habits that reinforce one another.
• Postcards from Japan: Short pauses that share an idea, custom or new solution from one of the oldest societies in the world, which is meeting the future of aging early.

About the author

Anne Jensen has published magazines for seniors for years, including Pikes Peak Senior News, and is the founder of the Senior Resource Center of Southern Colorado. She has listened to thousands of older adults talk about what actually helps — loneliness and purpose, housing and transportation, family, faith, money, grief and independence.

She also creates senior expos in Colorado Springs. Her first Aging Wildly event, held at a pickleball center with zoo animals, travel classes, home-modification exhibitors, Medicare experts, city services and veterans organizations, gave this book its true subject.

From the Aging Wildly blog

• What 'Aging Wildly' Really Means, and Why It Isn't About Acting 30 — Aging wildly doesn't mean pretending you're 30. It means refusing the small box the world builds around older adults, and choosing a life that still feels like yours.
• Finding Your Ikigai After 60: A Reason to Get Up in the Morning — Ikigai is a Japanese idea about having a reason to get up in the morning. After 60, it often looks different than it did at 40, and that's a good thing.
• Kaizen for Seniors: Small Daily Steps That Add Up — Kaizen is the practice of getting a little better every day. For older adults, tiny steps often work better than big resolutions, and they add up faster than you'd think.
• Blue Zones Lessons You Can Use in Colorado Springs — You don't have to move to a Greek island to borrow the habits of the world's longest-lived communities. Here's how Blue Zones lessons fit everyday life in Southern Colorado.
• Beating Loneliness After 60: Practical Ways to Stay Connected — Loneliness can creep in after retirement, a move, or a loss. Here are practical, low-pressure ways to rebuild connection, one small step at a time.
• Pickleball, Tai Chi and Everyday Movement: Staying Active Your Way — You don't need a gym membership or a perfect plan to stay active after 60. Here's how to find movement you actually enjoy, from pickleball to tai chi to a walk around the block.
• Encore Careers and Volunteering: Finding Purpose After Retirement — Retirement doesn't have to mean stopping. An encore career or the right volunteer role can bring structure, friendship and a reason to get up in the morning.
• Travel After 60: Planning Adventures That Fit You — Whether it's a dream trip overseas or a weekend in the mountains, travel after 60 is about planning adventures that match your pace, budget and curiosity.
• Aging in Place: Home Modifications That Keep You Independent — Most people want to stay in their own homes as they age. A few smart changes, from grab bars to better lighting, can make that safer and easier.
• Right-Sizing: A Home That Fits the Life You Have Now — Right-sizing isn't about giving things up. It's about choosing a home that fits the life you want now, whether that means smaller, simpler, closer or bigger.
• Getting Around When Driving Changes: Staying Independent — Driving changes for almost everyone eventually. With a little planning, getting around can stay simple, social and on your own terms.
• Postcards from Japan: What the World's Oldest Society Is Learning — Japan is facing the future of aging first. Its old wisdom and new experiments offer ideas worth noticing, and adapting, here at home.
• Boomers, Generation Jones and Gen X: Rewriting Later Life — Each generation is bringing its own history, hopes and pressures into later life. Knowing yours can help you make better choices now.
• Pets, Purpose and Wellbeing in Later Life — Sometimes a reason to get up in the morning has four legs. Here's how pets can add purpose and joy to later life, and how to choose wisely.
• Small Steps Toward Financial Confidence in Retirement — You don't need to fix all your finances at once. A few small, steady steps can help you feel more confident and in control.