We want to flip an old story

Because real help isn’t about tech or age – it’s about trust, connection and how it feels to be human

Even while closing our business this year – nearly broke our hearts to give up – we created something that I find worth sharing. As a team, we had seen and discussed many real life examples together. Heard many “old stories.” Wanted to turn the mindset about age and asking for help upside down.

No matter which technology or device is used, it is the connection and trust between people that makes the positive difference. As a person – at any age – you must trust that if you ask for help, you will receive the help you need, respecting how you define it and not someone else’s preference.

Solutions start with understanding how help feels to each other. Tech connection related to being vulnerable works best when open conversations between people come first.

Here, short and simple, our wish for the flip!

The problem. Everyone wants to grow old, no one wants to be old, and no one admits being old enough right now to need “that specific” help. AGE is dark, unknown and resisted.

The solution. Make the topic of aging over a whole lifetime discussable everywhere. AGE is celebrated, appreciated and proactively planned.

Vision. People accept the process of aging earlier in life. They thereby expect to adapt their environments and to ask each other for help when needed.

Mission. Inspire people to celebrate age, to be part of strong multi-gen communities in which asking for help feels heroic and to seek out cool products when they are young that will also serve them when they are old.

Mindset – our new stories.

• Bring lightness to the beauty and realities of a human life cycle – talk about it openly.
• Celebrate every age milestone – raise your own banners.(1)
• Recognize age role models – I want to be like that.

Be each other’s heroes.

Change begins with a small step. And small steps are cumulative!

Notes

1 In early European history, noble families and the military literally raised banners to stake a presence. Today, “raise your own banners” generally means to take charge of your own cause, assert your own identity, or champion your own ideas rather than following someone else. To say this is me – and I am happy to be here now!