- Terry BallantyneSpirit vs The BodyJanuary 30, 2021Aging has never been easy! Let's recap: Your joints get loose and achy. (gravity and hormones).Your vision is not what it used to be, cue the squint!Food is not as vibrant tasting.Likely your ankles are resisting a fast pivot.Your teeth and gums may be acting up.Skin: too many issues to name. That's the hard physical truth! Then there is the social/emotional side: Putting on makeup (if you do) is not as much fun as on a 20 year old face.You can't scamper up a ladder...
- Terry BallantyneWhat is aging?February 27, 2016When I observe our most elder people in the community, it is easy to assume they are sort of little shells of a life lived long ago. I see them shuffle or amble slowly at the market, sometimes shaky limbs reaching for the milk, or a hesitant hand pick over a bin of tomatoes. They seem hollow, as if getting to the market and home is about all they can manage. I often wonder what keeps them going? Looking from the outside it seems impossible...
- Terry BallantyneDon’t Boss The Boss!October 14, 2015Don’t Boss the Boss! My good friend Becky Peters at Lifespan, a high quality geriatric management firm here in Santa Cruz told me this: “Don’t boss the boss!” She could not have been more correct. One thing I have learned, and if you stop and look within a moment, no one perceives themselves as old! You may know your knees are less springy, or your back hurts in the morning, but rare is the person that sees themselves as old and irrelevant. A director at...
- Terry BallantyneMind Your EldersApril 20, 2015I’m getting some pushback about the term Olderhood. “Why not Elderhood” “Why or Seniorhood” I am asked. “I don’t want to be old.” they tell me. I called it Olderhood because everyone is older than someone. First graders hold sway over kindergarden kids. High school kids disdain the junior high group. Seniors are the elders to the Freshman class. As we move through life we are getting older, and this column is not directed solely at the 80+ crowd. There are things of interest hopefully...