What 'Aging Wildly' Really Means, and Why It Isn't About Acting 30

2026-11-04 · 5 min read

Picture two friends who just turned 70. One has a calendar with a few plans on it, a couple of people she calls each week, and a class she keeps meaning to try. The other has started to shrink. Not in health, necessarily, but in what she expects from her days. Her world has gotten smaller, and her days feel like something to get through.

That contrast sits at the heart of Aging Wildly, the new book by Anne Jensen, publisher of Pikes Peak Senior News and founder of the Senior Resource Center of Southern Colorado. Anne has spent years listening to older adults in Colorado Springs talk about what actually helps. Her conclusion is simple: the difference between those two friends is usually not money, luck, or the number on a birthday cake.

It isn't about pretending to be young

Let's clear up the biggest misunderstanding first. Aging wildly is not about dyeing your hair purple, running a marathon at 80, or acting like you're 30 again. It's also not about ignoring the real changes that come with time. Knees get creaky. Energy shifts. Friends move or pass away. Those things are real, and pretending otherwise doesn't help anyone.

In the book, Anne describes aging wildly as refusing to live inside the small, limiting box the world often puts older adults in. It means paying attention to your own life and still showing up for it. And as she puts it, wildly does not have to mean loudly. For one person, it could mean a new pickleball league. For another, it might mean a quieter home that finally fits, a rescue dog, or a long-awaited trip.

Four things people who live fully have in common

Over years of conversations with seniors, Anne noticed that people who keep living fully tend to share a few habits. They aren't fancy, and none of them require a big budget.

• They stay connected. They have people to call, places to go, and someone who would notice if they didn't show up.
• They keep adapting. When something changes, like a move, a health issue, or giving up the car keys, they look for a new way forward instead of stopping.
• They have a sense of purpose. There is some reason, big or small, to get dressed in the morning.
• They keep making their own choices. They don't wait for permission to be curious, useful, playful, spiritual, or ambitious.

Where the idea came from

The phrase started as an event. Anne created a gathering called Aging Wildly because so many seniors were feeling disconnected and isolated, and she wanted to bring some positivity to the whole experience of aging. Instead of a quiet convention hall, it was held at a pickleball center that was already full of movement and energy.

The room was packed with possibilities. The zoo brought animals people could interact with. An experienced traveler taught travel classes. Home-modification exhibitors showed how to adapt a house so you can keep living independently. Medicare experts answered questions, city services shared resources many people didn't know existed, and veterans organizations were there too. It was a room full of choices. That energy led to the next event, Unstoppable, focused on senior fitness, and gave the book its true subject.

Two Japanese ideas at the center

The book leans on two ideas from Japan. The first is ikigai, which Anne describes as a reason to get up in the morning. It might be family, faith, work, service, creativity, or the cat waiting by the bed. We dig into it more in Finding Your Ikigai After 60.

The second is kaizen, the practice of getting a little better every day. Big life overhauls can feel overwhelming, especially when life is already asking a lot of you. Tiny steps are different. They create motion, and motion brings back a sense of what's possible. Read more in Kaizen for Seniors: Small Daily Steps That Add Up.

What aging wildly can look like in real life

Here in Southern Colorado, it might look like any of these:

• Joining a beginner tai chi class at a local senior center, even if you've never done it before.
• Signing up to volunteer one morning a week at a food pantry, school, or hospital.
• Hosting a monthly potluck around a bigger dining room table.
• Selling the big house and moving into a smaller place that is easier to care for.
• Taking a slow walk with a neighbor at a park you've driven past for years.
• Finally asking a financial advisor the question you've been putting off.

None of these are dramatic. All of them are choices. That's the point. There is no single correct version of later life. You might live alone with no family nearby, or you might have a house that fills up every Sunday. You might be caring for a spouse while wondering who will care for you. Aging wildly means building a life that fits the person you are now, not following somebody else's formula.

For families: how to support it

If you're an adult child reading this for a parent, support choice rather than taking it away. Offer rides to a class instead of suggesting they stay home, and help them find people, not just services.

If your parent has been feeling isolated, our post on beating loneliness after 60 has practical ideas you can try together.

The goal is a good life, not just a long one

Most books about aging are either checklists or clinical lectures. Aging Wildly takes a different path. The essentials are still there, including health, money, housing, transportation, connection, and purpose. But they're carried by a way of seeing your life and moving through it one meaningful step at a time. Each chapter ends with a few small steps you can take now, and a companion Aging Wildly Workbook is planned to help you turn ideas into a personal plan.

The book's closing message, in short: there is no need for a dramatic reinvention. Pay attention to what lights you up, take one step that suits you, and then take another.

Your kaizen steps this week

• Write down three moments from the past month when you felt most like yourself. What were you doing, and who were you with?
• Make one phone call to someone you've been meaning to reach. Keep it short if you like. Just reconnect.
• Pick one small thing you've always been curious about, a class, a trail, a book, a hobby, and look up when and where you could try it.

Keep reading

• 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.