by Charlie, GreyMatter Founder

A friend recently sent me a link to a livestream featuring Dr Norman Swan discussing his latest book, The Brain Cliff, presented by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre.

It sounds fascinating. And Dr Swan is undoubtedly an intelligent and highly respected communicator.

But I found myself hesitating, because while brain health, cognitive function or healthy ageing are important, at GreyMatter, we are interested in questioning the story we tell ourselves about getting older (and this sounded like a red flag).

So much of the public conversation about ageing begins with the assumption that something is going to go wrong. We talk about cognitive decline. Physical decline. Loss of independence. Frailty. Intervention. Prevention. Staying younger. Fighting the effects of ageing.

Somewhere along the way, simply getting older has started to sound like a problem.

We’d like to flip that thinking.

We live longer and older. Full stop.

That doesn’t mean illness doesn’t happen. Of course it does. People of every age become sick, develop health conditions and experience disability.

But being over 50, 60, 70 or 80 shouldn’t automatically place us into a category of potential decline.

Many people are simply living.

They’re working. Creating. Falling in love. Travelling. Studying. Caring for others. Starting businesses. Making art. Dancing. Volunteering. Learning new things. Changing careers. Contributing to their communities.
And sometimes they’re doing things society didn’t expect them to do at that age.
That’s the bit we want to talk about.

Flip the narrative

At GreyMatter, we call this the #LifeFlip.
It’s a simple idea: perhaps we need to stop viewing later life primarily through the lens of what we might lose, and start paying more attention to what we are still doing — and what we might yet do.

Take work.

There is a growing conversation about older workers, retirement and the future of employment. But what if we stopped asking how long older people should work and instead asked what experience, knowledge, creativity and perspective they can continue to contribute?

Our research partner, Ron, is in his 70s and still working at university. He has recently written a paper exploring the future of work in an AI world — work that has received international recognition.

That’s not a story about decline.
It’s a story about contribution.

Ageing isn’t a diagnosis

There is enormous value in medical science, research and evidence that help people live healthier, longer lives. We should absolutely listen to good science and make informed choices about our health. But there is a distinction between supporting healthy lives and assuming ageing itself is a condition that requires fixing.

Perhaps the question isn’t simply:

How do we prevent ourselves from getting old?

Perhaps it’s:

What could our longer lives look like if we stopped being so afraid of getting older?

That’s the conversation GreyMatter wants to have.

Not ageing versus youth.
Not decline versus perfection.
Not intervention versus neglect.

People continuing to live, evolve, contribute, experiment, love, learn, laugh and occasionally surprise themselves.

We live longer and older. Full stop.
It’s time to flip this story.

#LifeFlip #GreyMatter