Relevance for the long-term

When does it start?

A little insight into how I write these posts: sometimes the first draft seems pretty good. Tighten it and find a visual. Equally often, that first draft feels dry and boring. Must ask myself how to make it worth reading.

I started this draft trying to make the point that our mindset about aging positively really must begin early – when we first become young adults. It would help if already then, we envisioned our lives as active and productive into at least our 70s, even beyond. Not sitting in a rocking chair at 50!

Otherwise, we imagine a life in which we abdicate potentially half of our lifetime of opportunities. Why would we do that anymore and why would we encourage our next generations to do it with us?

And then it came to me: could it start at IKEA?

Okay, IKEA is on my mind partly because I went to one this week in search of smart lights. Nightlights, which will come in a later post about better design. I had not visited an IKEA in maybe 10 years, being by now well beyond their typical demographic of 20-45. First time home furnisher.

Wisely, I chose Monday. Saturdays in a Zurich IKEA look like the streets of New York at 5pm. With more children and shopping carts.

Twas fun, the return. Even when I only finally reached the smart lights in the next-to-last department before the cash registers. Which of course means I enjoyed the famous “forced to walk through every imaginable furnishing category” experience.

By the end, the main “picture” I had in my mind of my later life focused on Swedish meatballs that I promised myself as a reward for showing up.

Meanwhile, back to my main point. Thing is, I once said this to younger colleagues, that we would be better off long-term if we started to picture age positively in our 20s. They didn’t get it. It’s like being in IKEA when you fit the IKEA demographic: you enjoy the focus on creating your own home. The excitement of growing into yourself. Becoming an adult. Figuring out your taste and style. That’s enough.

So it will be up to us who are currently in the later demographics to paint the different picture. To not sit in a rocking chair early (unless we truly want to). To show images that demonstrate a longer whole lifetime. Real images, not stock photos. In the ways we imagine.

You see, after writing this post, I think it may turn out that our current older generations will prove to be culturally important – transition generations creating new examples for everyone. Examples that current younger adults can explore when they are ready. And that must not be a rush!