The happiest older adults I know have one particular thing in common, at least it seems to me. They have been in a constant state of “re-launching” their entire lives. They have always been up for learning something new, trying something new, starting something new.

I’m not sure where they got the impetus to live that way. If you follow the default path of society, you are launched out a cannon at 18 or so and see how far you fly until you hit the ground in middle age and skid a short distance further. But then that’s it. One big launch you land where you land.

The major diseases of aging (heart disease, cancer, neurodegeneration) won’t last forever. The more they become treatable, the more years people will live in good health. We need to have find ways to give people more opportunities to relaunch.