No Surrender: Easing Into My Old Age | Community

Last June 17, 2025 was my BIG day. On that date, nearly 30,000 days ago, I entered into what aging experts refer to as “old age”. I was no longer ‘young old,” I was officially old. Really old. 80 years old.

Frankly, I dreaded the sun rise that day: how was I going to feel about myself being “old.” I was now dealing with the reality that time was running out,—-I was no longer in full bloom. Yes, it was now a fact: nature was going to reclaim my body.

It was time to concede I wasn’t going to write the book I had always wanted to author, and bid farewell to my boyhood dream of wearing the uniform of a New Jersey State Police Officer, and came to grips with the truth that I wasn’t going to serve in Washington as a US Congressman.

All regrettable, but legitimate aging concerns and realities that we all will face today or tomorrow.

I’m writing this because I’ve been “old” for almost a year and I wanted to take stock of my new life, “old life,” and detail to you how it’s been going.

And I’m very pleased to report that becoming 80 years old hasn’t has been nearly as difficult or daunting as I thought it would be.

My health, thank God, has remained remarkably good, and I continue to work out regularly in the gym. My push up and sit up counts are down a few reps, but I show up almost every day and keep at it.

I strive to sleep 7 hours a night, watch my diet, eat my veggies and drink plenty of water.

My number one life assignment remains to keep fit and continue my resistance to the inevitability of my physical decline.

Spiritually, I attend a weekly 2-hour Bible study at the Ranch and participate in a Friday morning mediation class. And last Christmas I got into the holiday spirit outside Basha’s and was a bell-ringing, Salvation Army volunteer.

And, most importantly, I have been fortunate to have been married to the same loving and supportive woman for over 50 years. We agree that “we were young together once,” but that many good times are still ahead for us.

As SaddleBrooke residents we all face the same truths surrounding the certainty and challenges of aging. Getting old is just plain inevitable.

For me, that step into my 80’s was a step I never wanted to take. It was a fear. Fear of what it was going to be like to be old. But I found that my F. E. A. R. was actually False, Evidence, Appearing, Real.

It hasn’t been bad at all.

Richard Dinges is a ten-year SaddleBrooke resident and former school counselor. To comment, write him at [email protected]