Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging by Dick Van Dyke

So, I’ll just say it up front. I am a child of the sixties. I don’t mean that in the “I drove a psychedelic microbus or visited the Haight or hung out with Ken Kesey” kind of way. That would have been kind of a stretch, considering I was in elementary school at the time. I mean I like to think I was precocious, but come on.

What I really mean is that I was truly a “child” in the sixties.

It also means that one of my first real comedic memories was from the Dick Van Dyke Show. I actually gained three things from it: I learned where New Rochelle was, I learned how funny Carl Reiner was and I developed a lifelong appreciation of the Laura Petrie pencil skirt. Now fast forward about a million years and I am enjoying discovering something I actually have in common with Dick Van Dyke. I share his philosophy of aging.

Released on Oct. of 2015, Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging by Dick Van Dyke is a really good book.

Now you might accuse me of bias. I mean I have been really hung up on the psychological, philosophical, physical, sexual, financial, regulatory and social aspects of aging in the U.S. as I prepared my new book, How To Age Gracefully and Escape With Your Dignity (available in April, 2016 from TAMU press), but I don’t think that makes me any less objective. In fact it makes me even more confident in echoing some of the concepts that Mr. Van Dyke espouses, especially regarding behavior and the issues that can impact “gray rights” and how one lives.

One thing that I really loved about his take on aging that resonates with my own experience and that was echoed by all the folks I interviewed during my research and prep, is that you need to “keep moving” and that when it comes to acting one’s age, Dick Van Dyke doesn’t buy into the concept that there is any such thing.

I agree and I think I know why he feels that way.

Van Dyke is a dancer, an exercise that involves flexibility, balance, strength and cardiovascular conditioning or a perfect combination of the 4 principles of fitness as described in the National Institute on Aging’s Go4Life program.

https://go4life.nia.nih.gov/

He also reflects an incredibly unlimited emotional approach to how one should not be constrained by- pardon the expression- "antiquated" concepts regarding seniors. Personally I think it’s fantastic and I strongly recommend the read.

Now if I only had rhythm… but there isn’t any book to help with that!

Prepare To Defend Yourself: How To Age Gracefully and Escape With Your Dignity by Matthew Minson, M.D. is the follow up to PTDY: How To Navigate The Healthcare System and Escape With Your Life. and is available for pre-order at TAMUpress http://issuu.com/tamupress/docs/spring_summer_2016_catalog/5?e=2126460/31915714 and Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Prepare-Defend-Yourself-Gracefully-Dignity/dp/1623494125/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452019076&sr=1-1&keywords=minson+aging