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Celebrate Active Aging Week in Your Community

September 18, 2014 by

wlic May 2102 potluck

September 21st to 27th is Active Aging Week. This event, led by the International Council of Active Aging (ICCA) is designed to spread the word about the different ways in which people age and how to stay more engage and healthy throughout your golden years. Adults age 50 and older are encouraged to participate in local activities with each day focusing on a different subject.

If your community doesn’t have activities planned for Active Aging Week get together with some of your friends to participate on your own and work toward building a bigger event for next year.

Organizations throughout North America are encouraged to hold free or low cost Active Aging Week events open to the public. Events are intended to be educational and fun. Likely locations for events already scheduled in your community are parks, malls, YMCAs, and Jewish Community Centers. You may also find events happening at health clubs, senior centers, and assisted living communities. Some activities may include group walks, health fairs, dances, exercise classes, concerts, and anything local organizers are able to present. Programming is encouraged to be flexible and accessible for anyone who wants to participate.

The ICCA has provided suggested programming for specialty days during Active Aging Week. These include:

  • Sunday, September 21st: Foot Health. Without healthy feet many average daily tasks can be difficult or cause excruciating pain. Learn how to keep your feet healthy as you stay active.
  • Monday, September 22nd: Walking. Walking is one of the best and easiest ways to stay active as you age. Get a group of friends together for a walk around a local park.
  • Tuesday, September 23rd: Falls Prevention. Falls can be devastating for older adults. This is one of the reasons that community living can provide safety and assistance to individuals as they age.
  • Wednesday, September 24th: Bone Health. Many adults, especially women, will feel the effects of osteoporosis as they age. Learn how to prevent it or manage it in your life.
  • Thursday, September 25th: Intergenerational Day. Stay Tuned for next week’s blog post about how Women for Living in Community has a few things to teach the younger generations.
  • Friday, September 26th: Walking/Group Classes. The ICCA has established events in cities throughout the country for individuals to get together and walk or take other fitness classes. Join one in your community.
  • Saturday, September 27th: Celebration. The last day of Active Aging Week is a time to let loose and celebrate. For people interested in developing communities for active aging local mixers or celebrations may be a great way to meet like-minded people. If there isn’t one in your area then throw a party!

Do you think you might participate in Active Aging Week? If so, how? We’d love to hear your stories. Share them in the comments or join the conversation on Facebook!

To learn more about Women for Living in Community, visit our home page.

 

 

Photo from a past Women for Living in Community MeetUp event.

Filed Under: Collaborative Tools, Events Tagged With: , ,

Extended Community and the Role of the Internet

September 11, 2014 by

caring bridge marianne

Last month I shared the story of my injury and was looking forward to recovery. I do want to let you all know that I have been doing very well since I had surgery to repair the damage in my neck and have been slowly getting back to normal.

When I wrote about my experience and the importance of my shared household and community in my initial emergency as well as my recovery I purposefully left out part of the story. This one involved a more widespread community and how the internet and social media played a part in the connections.

When I first felt the debilitating pain in my neck, my original Facebook posting got the attention of my cousin who just happens to be a neurosurgeon. One phone call later I felt confident with a second opinion that helped inform me about my options going forward. I also received dozens of well wishes from others as well as input from people who had similar experiences in their own lives. It was helpful to be in contact just to let my far-flung friends and family know that I wasn’t ignoring them but rather trying to stay away from the computer too much and let the healing begin.

Since that time, and throughout the surgery, I was able use an online tool called Caring Bridge which allowed everyone to stay in touch, keep themselves informed, and send messages of support that I could see when I was finally back to a computer screen. It was both practical and heartwarming. Caring Bridge is a non-profit organization.

I have experienced so much support over the last several months that it is hard to write about how much it touched me. There were many messages, emails, visits, offers to help, dinners made, and deliveries of delicious edibles. Some friends even offered to take me to the doctor to help in my recovery. There are so many more blessings that I can’t even list.

Have you evaluated what you have in your support network? Support takes a different shape with each person in your life. You may have friends and family in another state who can’t be with you to help but want to support you in other ways. Most of my family is on the west coast but through the power of the internet I was able to stay connected and I knew they were thinking of me and lending their support in my recovery.

Of course, the internet doesn’t just have to play a role in your life when you’ve suffered a major setback. It can be a great tool for finding your own community and making change happen in your life. Tools like Facebook and Meet Up can help connect you to likeminded people to form a community and become each other’s support network through every day challenges and major disasters.

What are you waiting for?

Learn more about building community through Marianne’s workbook Your Quest for Home and on the website. Ask a question and join the discussion on Facebook.

Filed Under: Collaborative Tools, Community Anywhere, My Story, Resources for You Tagged With: ,

4th of July: The Value of a Potluck

July 1, 2014 by

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don’t eat at home if you’re all alone there
come and hear the world band play
life is a BIG potluck my friend
come to the grand buffet

don’t fret for time or what you should “prepare”
share “what you’ve got” today
life is a BIG potluck my friend
come to the grand buffet

tell ev-ry-one
“come join the fun!”

no need to “fit in” you’re IN if you’re OUT
diVERsity rules the day
life is a BIG potluck my friend
I know some pots I can recommend
life is a BIG potluck my friend
come to the grand buffet!

(Music by J. Kandar, words by R. Ott. Performed at Jubilee Community)

Not too long ago I (or, rather, my alter-ego the Grand Nudge) shared some ideas for how to know if you can get along with potential housemates in a shared living situation. The impending holiday has brought up another idea which can be used to determine compatibility before changing your living arrangements and to share your new community with your surrounding neighborhood.

This miracle event is the humble potluck.

Everyone’s been to a potluck party sometime in their lives. You bring a hot dish or a cold salad and add it to the impressive table of handmade food from everyone else attending. You want to try just a little taste of everything but soon your plate is overflowing with potato salad, broccoli casserole and barbecued chicken. These parties can really bring a community together.

There are two possible uses for the potluck when it comes to building your future community:

  1. Determine the compatibility of potential housemates.
  2. Introducing your community to your neighborhood.

Let’s take a closer look at these ideas.

Housemate Compatibility

So far you’ve done everything by the book to meet new people and start to move forward with your shared housing plans. You have a handful of folks who might fit the bill but how do you know for sure if you can live together? Here is where the potluck can come in handy. Invite all potential house mates to a back yard party. Be specific with requests and ask everyone to help out in a different way. This can tell you how everyone follows directions. You can see if the really care about the party or if they just phone it in. See if they are on time or if they’re more than just fashionably late. Watch who helps clean up or who decides to sit and watch at the end of the event. This can tell you a lot about whether or not you can see yourself living with any of these people in the future.

Community Introduction

After you’ve moved into your new shared housing arrangement you may want to introduce your unconventional household to the surrounding neighborhood. Whether they say it out loud or not, your neighbors will be very curious about this new group of people living next door. If you don’t give them an opportunity to ask the questions you may find yourself the center of some pretty interesting neighborhood gossip. Head this off at the pass and invite everyone to a back yard potluck. Your household can provide the main dish and desserts so ask everyone else to bring sides. This can be a great way to get to know the people around you and share with them the ideals behind community living as you age. You may be surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response you’ll get.

So as we celebrate the 4th of July, keep the humble potluck in mind as a great tool for engaging and creating community both in your own home and in the surrounding areas.

We want to hear from you! Have you had a positive experience with a potluck in your community? Share your story in the comments or join the conversation on Facebook!

For more information on how to determine housemate compatibility, check out my guidebook Your Quest for Home available on Amazon.

Filed Under: Collaborative Tools Tagged With: , ,

Other Blogs of Interest: 10 Websites for Elders

June 17, 2014 by

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Many of us think of the internet as a young person’s tool, but that is far from the truth. There are plenty of websites available for boomers who are looking to connect with others or read about subjects that interest us. I thought it might be nice to showcase some of these blogs so you can add them to your bookmarks.

Here are a few that I’ve stumbled across.

[Read more…]

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Women Leading the Way for Community Living

June 3, 2014 by

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When I started Women for Living in Community I didn’t choose that name because I only expected women to be interested. I wasn’t picturing a village of Amazons armed with spears to keep the men out. I also wasn’t thinking it would be an idealized community of feminist baby boomers. My real motivation is that I truly believe women would take up this mantle of change and lead the rest of the country into a new aging paradigm.

[Read more…]

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Tiny Houses and The New Retirement with Ryan Mitchell

May 27, 2014 by

newretirement-278x350-2This is a guest post from Laura M. LaVoie, author of the book 120 Ideas for Tiny Living. Laura lives near Asheville in a 120 square foot home she built with her partner, Matt. You can read her blog at www.120squarefeet.com and buy the book on Amazon.

Marianne is off on a sun filled vacation and asked me to fill in with this post since it is all about tiny houses, a subject I know just a little bit about.

For this post I’ve Interviewed Ryan Mitchell the owner of The Tiny Life, a blog about tiny houses, and the author of the eBook The New Retirement.

[Read more…]

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The Grand Nudge: How to Know You Can Live With Someone

May 20, 2014 by

Grand Nudge Txt 2Ahem!

Okay boys and girls. Today we have a pretty serious lesson for you. People always ask me how to get started and for the most part the first thing to do is actually get started! I’m here to tell you that there are no magic words and no one will do it for you so hop to it!

But even I understand there are a lot more complex questions around the issue of building community. One of the top questions is “How do I know if these are the right roommates for me.”

Well, I’ve got some tricks for you.

Here are a few sure fire ways to really get to know someone.

  1. Look in their refrigerator.
  2. Look in their medicine cabinet. (Oh come on – we all do it anyway!)
  3. Go shopping with them.
  4. Go on a road trip with them.

[Read more…]

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The New Retirement

May 13, 2014 by

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In the February/March 2014 issue of the AARP Bulletin they included an article about the changing economic climate and how boomers are needed in the workplace. There was a time where working adults were expected to stop what they were doing, get their gold watch, and amble off into a land of golf and relaxation. Times are changing, though, and not always for the better.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Collaborative Tools

Your Quest for Home is Truly Your Quest of Self-Discovery

April 22, 2014 by

Paper chain neighborhood and communityHave you picked up your copy of Your Quest for Home yet? If not, I wanted to share a little more insight to draw you in.

Your quest, the one that will lead to you better understand how you want to live in community, is really more about you than anything else. This comes as a surprise to many people. It is important that I stress how much this journey is about you as an individual. If you don’t know your motivations or your reasons for wanting to live this way, something will always feel off.

Humans are complicated animals. So often we find ourselves projecting our own insecurities on the people around us rather than addressing them directly. I’m not saying there aren’t toxic people that can enter our lives, but I am saying the only thing we have control over is our own response.

My guidebook is designed for you, as an individual, to assess the reasons you want to live in community. It is for you to take a deeper look at yourself and learn what kind of person you want to be as you age. This book requires active participation on your part, just like living in community will.

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My Favorite People

February 25, 2014 by

No woman is an island and rather than let you think I have come up with all of these great ideas by myself I wanted to share some of the people who influenced and inspired me along the way. This list is of my favorite people and why you might want to add them to your list as well.

Joan Medlicott

joan medlicottThe author of the Ladies of Covington Series has been a great inspiration to me in my journey. Truly ahead of her time, Joan’s books are filled with strong, older female characters. I’ve had the pleasure getting to know Joan over the years with our first introduction in 2005. She was a contributor to our conference in 2007. I frequently loan her books out to other women who want to know more about shared housing. It is hard to know what the future holds for Joan since she is dealing with an illness now. I am glad to share her legacy with other women.

Click below to read more about my favorite people.

[Read more…]

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