Jo Seagar: how to control the ageing process

We can’t turn the clock back, says Jo Seagar, but we can seize control of our time and turn our backs on the negative expectations of age.

Changing your beliefs about ageing is, I believe, a potent way to counteract its effects. How to prevent or at least slow down the ageing process is one that humanity has long pondered and investigated. As a result we can indulge in the latest beauty treatments, boost our diets with superfoods and vitamin supplements or partake of more bizarre rituals such as polar dips and snail slime facials.

Maybe some therapies have a degree of merit and are worth consideration, but others… well, bear in mind the old saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

However, there is an anti-ageing product that’s pretty effective. It won’t cost you anything and is so easy to access. I’m talking about your mind.

Some say the human mind is the most powerful healing force known. It certainly has the ability to change how you think about growing older, and this can affect how you look and feel.

To be ageless is to defy the rules of what it supposedly means to be this age or that age. Age is just a number and you can feel younger at 65 than you were at 30 just by changing your attitude and lifestyle.

No more negative talk such as “it must be my age that makes me forget things” or “at my age it’s normal to slow down”. I’m just not buying into that. I hate hearing people say they’re having a senior moment when they forget a name or the location of their glasses (lethologica is the word to describe that and it can happen at any age). What they’re more likely to be experiencing is mental overload from trying to juggle too many tasks, or maybe they’re just tired and need more sleep.

You can help to keep cognitive decline at bay by challenging your mind with the daily crossword puzzle or start learning that second language you always meant to master. Remember, it’s not about age, it’s about attitude. Don’t let your years dictate what you can and cannot do!

Adopt an ageless, healthy mindset and stop believing your brain is turning to custard just because you’ve celebrated your 50th birthday or gone through menopause.

I love seeing older women dressed fashionably, with cool hairstyles, gorgeous make-up and on-trend shoes. I think it’s great when someone does something that might be considered too young for their age.

For example, I’ve had travellers on my Italian cooking tours who are in their 80s and not only sprightly physically but, more importantly, they’re open to new ideas and experiences mentally. We now hear of 90-year-olds volunteering at Hospice, opening Instagram accounts and walking the Milford Track. Okay, maybe you can’t realistically contemplate doing a triathlon – frankly, I was never into them myself – but compromise is a fine thing… an electric bike makes the rail trail a breeze and those Nordic walking poles have to be tried to be believed! Find a couple of role models who are your age or above and start channelling them and being inspired by them.

Celebrate your years and be thankful for all the good things you’ve got. Yearning for a return to the younger you is a waste of valuable time. Instead, make the most of who you are today. If you have a Gold Card, don’t view it as a sign of decrepitude but rather as a great way to get a discount on that skydiving experience or swim with the dolphins.

We’re inclined to think that time controls us, but in fact we can take control of time and make it our own. I never want to think that the best days are behind me. I much prefer to believe there are many more wonderful ones still

to come.

Yearning for a return to the younger you is a waste of valuable time.