With friends and family

Your associations with "ageing"?

#Uncertainty
#Healthconcerns
#Staycurious
#Pensiongap

Tell us more about your future of ageing. What's it like?

Imagine you are 72, 80 or even 99 years old: How and with whom do you live together?

In a community of family, loved ones, friends (old & new) and people who value intergenerational connection, exchange and helping each other out as well as each one can; a peaceful place close to nature with the possibility to visit the city on occasion

Who are the most important people in your life and how do you spend time with them?

My family and friends. I hope to live close to as many of them as possible - with the ones further away I regularly communicate through video holograms and/or messenger applications workable for senior citizens. I love still having a close relationship with my sibling and together we reminisce old memories as well as are happy seeing our own families of kids and grandkids grow up.

What is your sex and love life like in the future?

I am with the person I love, we are happy and communicate openly and always have in the past about our sexual needs, pleasures and fantasies and always found ways to allow ourselves the freedom to live them; however on a deep emotional level its always been us and creating our family together

Thinking into the future: How do you manage to stay mentally and physically fit?

Where I live there are offers to keep fit and motivate each other to not become couch potatoes but keep moving even in old age; I have several subscriptions to information/reflection thoughts/discussion forums that keep me engaged and of course the time spend talking and discussion with my family and friends

How do you afford everyday life in the future?

There is not a reliable stately pension I can rely on. I have savings from private investments and pension funds as well as some backups from my inheritance. However, the mindset and approach to wealth changed a lot and the necessary needs of getting by as an elderly are also managed within our living communities to distribute means fairly and enable all members to age in dignity and joy. On top of 'members contribute according to their means' approaches, community housing and food are subsidized by stately institutions

Thinking of your future older self: What do you get up for in the morning?

For making the best of the time still given to me, to support friends and family where I can and to volunteer within my community. I also partake in mentoring programs sharing my experiences and stories with people of the younger generation. Some time I spent on hobbies and topics that are important to me and which keep me learning and inspired.

You're looking back at your fulfilled life and a much younger friend of yours asks about your secret of happiness and fullfillment. What do you tell them? What would you recommend to them?

Don't take life too seriously but figure out what you want from it, what is important to you and have a vision in mind - stay flexible and adaptable in the road to get there. When making decisions, be connected to your mind and body and see what feels right to you. Don't make decisions based on fear. What's the very worst that can happen? Life always goes on. Be willing to never stop learning and growing as you go along as change and uncertainty are a given. Sometimes things suck but as long as you get up again and keep going life will take you places. Be open to these places and curious about the people you meet along the way. It's the connections with people that will mean most to you when you are old(er).

This image of the future was anonymously submitted by someone describing themselves as:

mid-30th, white middle-class female, academic education, curious and with quite the un-linear cv, still searching and figuring stuff out, international mindset, sustainability advocate, married, life>work, dogs>cats, nature>downtown

Originally submitted in English.

Ageing