The Longevity Secret: Passion, Purpose, and Positivity with Noelle Nelson

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast.

Greetings to our listeners. You're listening to one of our premium episodes on Living to 100 Club, and I'm your host, Joe Casciani. Each week, our conversations educate and inspire, helping you get the best out of all the years we're given, regardless of what obstacles come our way. Premium subscribers have access to all episodes, both the two public and the two premium episodes, every month. Thanks for being a subscriber. Your support allows us to continue this mission without sponsors. We hope you're receiving value from every conversation with our experts. I think they offer much greater value than the price of a subscription. On today's program, we invite as our guest Dr. Noel Nelson to discuss the common thread found in older adults who enjoy longevity, doing what you love. Nouel is the author of 15 books, including The Longevity Secret: How to Live Happy, Healthy, and Vibrant into Your 70s, 80s, 90s, and Beyond. And we learn more about the hundreds of older adults she has featured on her website, Meet the Amazing, many of whom are centenarians. First, a little background. Since 2016, Dr. Nelson has been posting stories about older people who are leading rewarding and fulfilling lives on a Meet the Amazings Facebook page. The page features over 600 Amazings and has more than 14,000 followers. Dr. Nelson is also a monthly contributor to 60andme.com, writing about happiness, gratitude, and healthy aging. Dr. Nelson has appeared on national and international radio, and television, including CBS's The Early Show and ABC's The View. She's been interviewed, quoted, or written about in such diverse publications as Entrepreneur Magazine, People, Cosmo, Women's World, Investor's Business Daily, and the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Nelson, a clinical psychologist and trial consultant, holds a PhD from the United States International University and sociology degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles and the Sorbonne in Paris. Noëlle, welcome to our program.

Thank you, Joe.

I'm looking forward to our conversation. I always like to open by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today. I know I covered the highlights, but maybe give us an inside look at the journey that you, you took.

Well, are we talking my journey into my interest in longevity or my journey personally?

Longevity, I'd say. Okay.

Because I think that's the more interesting one anyway. Back in the mid-2000s, I was traveling a great deal for work. I still do, but less because now we use Zoom a lot more. Anyway, I spent a lot of my time on planes, and one day I was coming back from a business adventure, so to speak. And the flight attendant had asked everybody to please power down your devices, right? We're all familiar with that one. And meanwhile, the young man next to me was texting away and totally ignoring the flight attendant. Okay, no big deal. I thought maybe he didn't hear her. So I leaned over and said, excuse me, but you know, the flight attendant just said please power down your device. He ignored me. Okay. Meanwhile, we start taxiing down the runway and the young man is still texting. And I'm thinking, you know, This really isn't good. So now in my more authoritative and louder voice, I turned to him and said, excuse me, but you need to power down your device. Your cell's frequencies could interfere with the pilot's radio frequencies. And he looked at me and said, what would you know?

You're old.

Well, after a moment of shock, I informed him he was very lucky he might get to be old like me. I was maybe 60 at the time.

Yeah, the wrong thing to say, right? Really, wasn't it, Joseph?

But it was a blessing, truly a a blessing, Joe, because I started to wonder, to think about, well, wait a minute, how do younger people and how do most people in our country look at those who are 60, 65, and older? I just had never investigated that before. I had other things that were on my mind. And as I started to do the research, I was quite frankly appalled at the stereotypes. Just appalled. Basically, anybody over 65 was considered decrepit, declining, boring, can't learn. I mean, the list is very, very long. This despite the fact that only 6% of Americans as of June of last year were either in nursing homes or in assisted living, which means that 94% of us are doing gosh darn well. So That, of course, led to a book because what can I tell you? I write a lot. And then as I was writing, I was, of course, discovering more and more what I came to call amazings, meaning people, especially in their 80s, 90s, and 100s, who are doing something amazing right now. So it's not just the culmination of a lifetime, and that's a wonderful thing, but it was something that truly, truly mattered to them right now. And it was as diverse, Joe, as growing tomatoes and inventing something for the moon. That's the journey that led me to this.

Yeah, I was always struck. I did a lot of work, as you may recall, in nursing homes over my career. And I was always struck that that percentage— we used 5% at the time, but 95% of older adults are relatively healthy, living independently and more or less independently, but are not afflicted with the typical age stereotypes about helplessness and, you know, medical decline and all of that. So yeah, it's, it sounds like you are open to that, that 95% majority as well. That's, that's so important. Sure. So you learned about the Amazings, you you came across people who are doing very, very well in their senior years, 70s, 80s, 90s plus, I imagine. So tell us, uh, maybe some of the stories about some of these amazing older adults who stand out in your mind.

Well, first of all, I would love to, because— excuse me— this is obviously a passion for me. So yes, um, one of my all-time favorites is a lady named Edith Merway Trena, who had— you do know her.

I know of her. Yeah. Great story.

Yes. And at 100, if your listeners haven't heard this story recently, she was declared the oldest competitive powerlifter by the Guinness World Book of Records. Now, what fascinates me about Edith is not just that at 100 she's the competitive powerlifter, but that she only started at 91. And that, I think, Joe, is tremendously important because often we say to ourselves, oh, you know, I mean, come on, I'm, I'm 60, I'm 70, I'm 80. I couldn't possibly start a new whatever. And yet so many of these amazings have taught me that you can start at any age. It really doesn't matter. What matters is Do you love it? Do you really want it? Are you willing to put in some energy and effort to it? That sort of thing. So that's her. She's fabulous.

Excuse me just a second. I think that's such an important point, Noël, that age is only a number. It doesn't say anything about what we should or shouldn't be doing. And what I recall about Eva Murroway was when she was asked what she enjoys the most about this competitive powerlifting is that she said, Well, I really enjoy the applause from the audience, which is great. That's great. That's great.

That's great. I did not know that. That is a good story.

Sure. So who else?

Well, excuse me. Another one that I, that I really like is Evan Oswald. Evan Oswald, in his 90s, competed in 4 National Senior Olympics, taking the gold. Now, what's really cool about this gentleman is he suffers from neuropathy and vertigo.

Wow.

He still manages to do all that. And I think that, again, is what's so important is, you know, there are people that I have researched who have metal hips and are dancing. It's like, yes, there are some physical limitations for sure. And we do need to respect our bodies. But we often make more of those limitations than they need to be. So I think Mr. Oswald Evan is a prime example of that. Most people afflicted with neuropathy and vertigo, thank you very much, would say, um, you know, I don't think so. But he, on the contrary, just said, yeah, whatever, took whatever precautions he needed to take, but went on to win gold in all of those competitions.

Wow. Yeah, great stories.

Great.

Yeah.

And even people with Alzheimer's. See, now that's because that's something we've become more and more aware of in the last couple of decades. And from your work, I'm sure, uh, you, you were fully aware of Alzheimer's and what it can— how it can affect people. This gentleman, Ron Roberts, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 80. So he refused to let himself diminish, and he started learning French and Spanish.

Okay.

But then he decided, you know, I've always really, really, really wanted to study political science. So this man went ahead, and at 85, he earned a political science degree at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Wow.

I know. And that to me is— so again, these are why I call them amazings.

Yeah.

They, they, they beat the odds, just beat the odds time and time again.

Well, it's so easy to adopt these, what we call self-limiting beliefs, right? They, they say, oh, Alzheimer's, you're going to find your memory declining and you're going to face some other cognitive impairment. And we, we adopt a lot of these beliefs and, you know, Alzheimer's isn't the only instance, but We do adopt these beliefs, and we kind of limit ourselves. So you're talking about individuals who have no concept of self-limiting beliefs. It's like, in spite of what's going on, I'm going to go on and live my life, and I'm going to continue to excel and go after and pursue things that I, that I've always wanted to pursue. How great is that?

Yes. And you know what's interesting, Joe? In a certain sense, we're born that way. You look at a toddler. They don't know that crawling has to lead to walking. They don't know what's going on or anything else. But it's sort of like nothing stops them, which is why we call it the terrible twos, right? They get into everything. They have no self-limiting beliefs. At that point in time, we are truly innocent in the best sense of the word. And I think that one of the glories of being older, which I appreciate, enormously is I don't care anymore what anybody thinks. And that has taken— I mean, I'm not going to break the law. You understand what I mean? I don't care. For example, I'm a competitive ballroom dancer. I really don't care what other people might think of that. I mean, 75 and a half, thank you very much. And I'm out there on the competitive floor and I'm having a ball, literally, no pun intended.

Yeah. Yeah.

And it's Again, not that I'm so special, but I have learned from these amazing— not to hold myself back with what you call so accurately self-limiting beliefs.

Yeah. Yeah. I had a guest on my program last year and she retired and, you know, was looking around for what to do next. And she decided she wanted to run a marathon and her family said, no, no, no, mom or sis, you can't run a marathon. So she said that's what spurred her on to do more. And then she thought, well, maybe I should go back to school. I want to get another degree. So she went back to school, and everybody said, you can't be doing that, Jill, you're too old. So she went back, and she said that again gave her more motivation. And then she wanted to, um, write a book, and she said, you know, everybody was discouraging me, and that's again, that's what egged me on to, to write it. And Again, we, we not only prove to others, but we throw off those shackles that we carry around. Just like the toddler, they have no sense of what's, you know, what, what should limit them. I'm gonna do what I want, pursue what I want. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. So what is your understanding of this, um, what we call a sense of purpose, having a sense of purpose in our lives and that drives so many of us toward certain goals and passions. How important is this sense of purpose, and maybe more so for older adults?

Well, I think it's important for anybody who wants to be successful, frankly, Joe. But for older adults, let's put it this way. I think of it as a triad. First, there has to be the passion. There has to be the what. What is it that I want? What is it that I love? What is it that floats my boat? And then purpose is the, okay, in which direction am I going to point this grand appreciation for something or other? So purpose gives form and definition, if you will, in my mind, to passion. Because just, you know, growing tomatoes is nice, right? But if you're growing tomatoes because you want to get the sweetest, juiciest, most beautiful tomato on the block, now you have purpose to your passion. And it really is what then makes it so much more enjoyable. So I think a passion without a purpose is sort of like a rudderless ship. It's like, well, this is nice being on the water, but kind of thing. And then I always think of the third aspect of the triad as the how. And for that, I always engage or promote positivity. So it's passion, purpose, and positivity, because we have, we know from many, many, many, many studies over many years now that optimists thrive. Doesn't matter what culture, what age, what anything, optimists thrive. And above all, they are filled with hope and confidence, a sense of hope and confidence. And that's despite the ups and downs of life, especially the downs.

Yeah.

So positivity is important because frankly, the gal that— excuse me— the gal you were speaking of, she would not have gone ahead with the marathon or the further education if she hadn't had some optimism, meaning some hope and confidence in her ability to pursue those. You don't have to want to pursue them to a given end, although I love Edith's appreciation for applause. I think it's a crack-up and great. But there has to be some "yes, I can" attached.

Yeah.

So that's how I fit purpose, if you will, in with passion and positivity.

Yeah.

You got to have that rubber.

No, I agree 1,000%. So your amazings that you've come across, I cannot imagine very many of them having this place in their life without that positivity. I mean, passion may be there, purpose maybe, but I don't— I really would question if anybody can be there without this positive attitude. What do you think?

I don't think they can.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, negativity is a killer. Pessimism is a contractor of experience, if you will. Optimism and hope are expanders of experience. And that's what people who want to live healthy long are. They are expanding. It's the exact opposite of the sex— excuse me, the ageist stereotypes. The exact opposite. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So that positivity, you know, it's almost the kind of the other side of resilience too, I think, right? When we're, we're knocked down, we have these challenges, as you mentioned, we have these setbacks, and we get knocked down, and can we get back up? Can we stay positive no matter what gets in the way? And that's, you know, that, that's what I talk about with my Living to 100 Club. Yeah, it's not in the cards for everybody, but we can all stay positive while trying. So resilience and positivity, maybe Two sides of the same coin.

Yeah, well, there's certainly, there's certainly, uh, go together, let's put it that way. You know, if you're resilient, you're positive, and if you're positive, you're probably resilient. Yeah, the word resilient, I think it's an important concept to keep in mind, which is that we are, we all fall down, we all make mistakes, we all stumble, we all have issues, problems, whatever, right? The, the, the joy is in the awareness that, okay, okay, I can get up. Yes, I can.

So this sense of purpose that we see is so, so essential, that contributes to living longer. Do you think that is correlated with our longevity?

Well, I don't know about— I don't have at hand any scientific research that's been done on that specific issue. But what I can tell you is that the amazings that I have found, with no exceptions, and they are, as I said, mostly in their 80s, 90s, and 100s, all have a sense of purpose. So that's anecdotal. It's not, you know, science-based. But I would be hard-pressed to imagine that someone could just sort of sit on their couch and surf channels and have a long life.

Yeah, yeah. So that's, that's one of the common threads. I, I can, you know, certainly see that. I can certainly see that. Do you think there are other, other characteristics in, in your group?

Well, certainly passion.

Passion.

Passion.

Absolutely.

In other words, an intense interest in something. I have not— she's, she's, she will join The Amazings in the next couple of months because I always write these a bit ahead, a gal named Louise Cobbs that I just unearthed, who at 91 finally retired as a crossing guard for her local police department. Not because anything has happened that she needs to, but it's kind of like, I was like, really? Want to keep doing this, Louise? And she adores this. She has never missed a day of work. And if you look at her, she's a skinny little thing. It's not like she's some powerhouse, you know, physically speaking, that could withstand rain, sleet, hail, snow, or whatever you want to, you want to say. But it's her, her love. She said, I love to see the children cross safely. And she has done this now for generations of children. And it's, that's what I mean by passion. It's, you got to love it. And loving it, I think, is how the energy you summon, if you will, your own energy to an extent that if you just sat around, wouldn't work. You know, there are studies, by the way, on how people die post-retirement. I'm sure you're familiar with those.

Sure.

Don't have, who have not sort of pre-planned an interest, a hobby, or have one before they retire, often die fairly quickly. I think it's within the first 5 years post-retirement because frankly, you know, R&R is great. But not as a full-time job.

Yeah, yeah, that's such an important statement. So yeah, it is that— it's the reward too. I mean, the passion and the sense of reward and accomplishment that, you know, your retired school crossing guard must have experienced over the years, that I just, I just feel such a commitment to this position because I I get so much reward out of doing it and keeping the children safe. I read about, um, someone who just, just passed away, uh, Al Jaffe. Yes, a writer for Mad Magazine. He, you know, he retired at age 99. He was still writing for the magazine, and, you know, he died 3 years later. But yeah, R&R doesn't, doesn't cut it, really, does it? No.

No, we think it, we think it will, because mostly, because often after a lifetime of work, one is tired. Yeah. And so certainly some R&R is great, but that isn't what keeps us alive, alive and happy, shall we say.

Yeah. Yeah. So the passion, purpose, resilience, the positivity, Um, I, I agree 100% about the, you know, how this is tied to our longevity because we know that people, you know, the Ohio Longitudinal Study talked about, you know, this sense of, um, kind of satisfaction with our, with our age and not dreading our age and feeling even younger than our chronological age tends to relate to living longer. We live 7 years longer than those who have a negative view about their chronological age. So there's such a— such an importance of our mindset and our attitude about aging that really contributes to how, how long we live.

Yeah, it's interesting what you say, Joe. I had someone ask me just the other day, gosh, Noel, do you ever think about your age? I thought, no, like, why would I? There's nothing to think about. It is what it is.

Yeah.

I'm not sitting around denying, but why would I think about it? I'm busy. I have other things to do. I still work full-time. You know, I have my ridiculous hobby of ballroom dancing, and I keep writing. So I don't have time to sit around and think, well, let's see, I'll be 76 this year, and that means I'll be 80. And it's like, and your point is, who cares?

True, sure. So you've written the book The Longevity Secret: How to Live Happy, Healthy, and Vibrant into Our 70s, 80s, and 90s. Can you share some, some tips, some secrets on how do we uncover this passion in our senior years? How do we discover it? What can we look for? You mentioned, you know, the purpose and passion and Yep. Yeah. How do we, how do we uncover that? It's, it's not always going to stare us in the face, I don't think.

No, it is not. And Joe, that is such a perfect question because often people don't know. Well, you know, I've been, I've been whatever, a mechanic for 40 years or a seamstress for 60 years, whatever it is. And I don't know how to find whatever. I've always had children and grandchildren. Now they're all grown and I can't do anything with them. So the way to discover a passion is to spend a little time daydreaming, often daydreaming into what did I want to be when I was a child, little girl, little boy? What did I want to be? What about that did I like? Why did that draw me? And to daydream a little bit and just let yourself go into the— it doesn't matter how fantastical or quotes, seemingly stupid or whatever. It doesn't really matter. The second thing to do is look around. One of the primary reasons I keep the Facebook page The Amazing going since 2016 is because I've been told over and over and over again, it inspires regular people, people who aren't there yet, to, well, what could they do? So you look around, you say, oh, I could join a quilting circle. Oh, I could run a marathon. Oh, I could learn to tango. Oh, I could start a book club. Oh, I could write a book. And the example— I mean, there's a reason there's not just one of us on the planet. We have plenty of vibrant people around us from whom we can take examples. And it's kind of like a giant buffet, Joe. You can pick and choose. You don't have to, you know. So like for me, for example, Automotive repair would never be on my list. That just doesn't do it for me. But dancing did. So it just— there's that buffet. Other people are doing all sorts of things. Take a look. And of course, now with the internet, not just now, but now for decades with the internet, is you can see a lot more of what people are doing. I have Amazings who do things like carve wooden toys to give at Christmas. Which they then give to the local, uh, either police department, firefighter, whoever, to distribute among kids who don't have toys. That's their joy. I mean, it's people doing all sorts of fascinating things. So it's your buffet. You go take a look. And here's the third aspect: try it. Most people give up before they try. I have a friend of mine who's a trial attorney. Who's in a rock and roll band at 70. It is in his garage, and they play a few gigs here and there, but they have a blast. Now, he was not a rock and roll band person when he was young. This came to him quite late. It's the thing of you got to try it.

Yeah.

Because if he had said to himself, and he's confided this to me, if he had said to himself when the idea first percolated, in his late 60s, I'm going to be in a rock and roll band. He would never have even lifted a finger on a guitar. It would have been, nah, please, that's for the kids.

Yeah.

Well, you see, there is nothing that is, quotes, for the kids. There is only what you are willing to try. And there's this great lady that I read about recently, Laureen Hildebrand, who at 88 started a class for young people to learn pickleball. And she's already a senior sports Olympian or athlete. I forget what the designation is exactly in all sorts of other, what I think of as racket sports.

Okay.

Tennis, ping pong, all those sorts of sports.

Sure.

And so she has a lot of experience. And all this is, of course, post-retirement. She has a lot of experience with being a beginner. And so she imparts to young people what it's like to be a beginner. And the reason I mention her is that her philosophy is very simple. You get a little knowledge and then you practice. So it doesn't matter if you want to be in a rock and roll band or you do want to be an automotive mechanic, whatever it is, is get a little knowledge and then for heaven's sakes, practice.

Try it. Yeah. Try it.

You gotta try it. And people often will give up after a couple of weeks. My personal guideline that I share is try it for 3 months.

Mm-hmm.

You don't have to do it every day, but whatever it is, try it for 3 months because it takes 21 days to build a new habit.

Yeah.

And if you give up after just a couple of weeks, for whatever reason, you don't, you won't know. And here's the fun part. You just don't know where one road leads because it may very well lead to another. In other words, joining the book club, you found that boring after 3 months, but one of the people in the book club was talking about growing tomatoes. You thought, oh, there's a thought, or whatever. In other words, you just got to get your butt off your couch and try because one will lead to another.

Those are great, great, great advice. Great tips. I love that. It's so important to try it and take some initiative and go after something. Because I was asked once, you know, someone was saying, you know, I hear about these golden years. Everybody talks about the golden years. Well, I haven't seen them yet, he said. And I thought for a second. I said, you know, the golden years aren't going to come knocking on your door. You've got to go after the golden years. You've got to become whatever you think the golden years are. And it's that same point that you've got to go out and practice and try something. Yes. And, you know, 3 months, but it, it really takes some initiative. You gotta just take that, you know, move and make some decision. I bought myself— not that I'm looking to be a member of a rock and roll band, but I bought myself some electronic drums about a year and a half ago. Cool. I thoroughly— it's kind of difficult to learn. I've never had any musical experience. Or training. It's thrilling. I just enjoy it every time I go back, and I'm taking some online lessons. But I think that's, that's such a good point too, you know, to pursue something. It's not going to come knocking on your door. You've got to go after it. But I especially like the, the tip about observing it in others, and I, I can see where your Facebook page has got to be just invaluable for helping people to get more inspiration of their own and you know, seeing what other people doing. And regardless of our age, and just to see that there's so many opportunities, so many doors to knock on and open, and, you know, to go after things. And we might not have those inklings until we see, oh geez, somebody else is doing that, that's kind of interesting. Maybe so we, we can observe and obviously, you know, go after what we've wanted to do, maybe be a fireman or a volunteer, whatever, when we were a kid. So there's so many, so many ways to pursue these passions. I think you've just been a great way to articulate all of these different approaches. Noel, thanks for that.

Sure.

Yeah. So your book, The Longevity Secret, any— what do you, what do you hope your readers get out of the book?

A couple of things.

Yeah.

One is to look at themselves differently. In other words, to what we have found, what the science has demonstrated very clearly is that people's thoughts about themselves are the most limiting thoughts, as we said earlier in the program. So look at your own beliefs and see, do I think that, oh, you know what? I hit 70.

Wow.

Maybe I shouldn't walk so fast, or maybe I shouldn't do that or the other. You know what? Makeup's for the kids. Whatever the thought is, right, is to remove from yourself your ageist thoughts, because we inflict that on ourselves. And then secondly, don't buy into that conversation. Just don't buy into it. If someone says to you, oh, you know, dear, really, you shouldn't be eating that, you should be watching your whatever, cholesterol, weight, whatever it is, you know, more is go, you know what, I've done my own research, and I really like it. So I'm gonna eat it.

Yeah, I am.

So the first thing is to help people first see, A, that there are people out there doing fantastic things and they clearly have the toddler's mindset and not an ageist mindset. But also some of the tips that we talked about today, which is, okay, so what does it look like? Well, it looks like passion, purpose, and positivity. How do you get there? Well, daydream. Look at what other people are doing. I mean, it's hopefully inspiring people to look at themselves and look at their world in a more fun, playful light. Because to me, Joe, the golden— I have never felt as happy as I am now, and I've had a darn good life. But to me, the golden years are what literally what you do once you are, in a sense, free of a lot of the obligations we had previously. Yeah, for most of us— again, there are of course exceptions— but for most of us, the families are grown and taking care of themselves pretty okay. We probably, hopefully, have been able to retire with some funds, find some way of being what I call safe, warm, and dry. And so then what do you get to do with the time you have.

Yeah.

You can have fun. You can be playful. You can be engaged. You can be volunteering, as we know, is a huge source of longevity.

Yeah. Right.

You can volunteer. You can do any number of things. But it's looking at your world and yourself through those eyes, not the eyes of, well, I guess this is my last decade. Good night, Irene.

Yeah, yeah, it reminds me of the book by Twyla Tharp. Maybe you know it, the famous choreographer, dancer. She's still teaching in her 80s, and yeah, her latest book is called Keep It Moving, right? Perfect title. And she talks about nonstop engagement. That's what, that's what her key to longevity is. I can't, I don't want to slow down. I just want to stay engaged and keep reaching out and, you know, pushing myself.

So, you know, I featured Twyla, by the way, as a, as a, um, because she's quite wonderful. But, you know, the question I get from a lot of people, because I still am a full-time trial consultant, is, so when are you going to retire? When they stop hiring me. I have no reason to retire. If they stop hiring me, that's, that'll be my cue.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, then you can maybe look at another role, right?

But I mean, that's, that's, you know, most people's standard answer to retire is a little different.

Yeah, well, you know, um, I love the book by Joe Dispenza, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, and this is what you're, you're talking about too. Don't buy into those, uh, those limiting attitudes, those self-beliefs, and And, you know, he talks about stepping out of the comfort zone and, you know, comfort zone is safe and predictable and familiar and cozy. And it's stepping out is where we get our inspiration. We get our energy. We, we, you have new experiences. And that's what I think to me, that's what continuing to open new doors is all about.

Yes.

For successful aging. Yeah. That's great. That's great. Have a plump, playful life. And, uh, really, it's time to celebrate. You know, we do have the maturity, we have the wisdom, we have the experience, we have the tolerance, we have a sense of humor. And it's, it's great to be able to celebrate our senior years and not look at it as a time of decline.

I like that. I like that a lot.

Yeah.

Celebration. Yes.

Yeah. Wow. Well, it looks like we're about Out of time for today, Noel. Um, before I wrap up, I just wanna remind my listeners to visit my website, livingto100.club, sign up for my email list and download a free copy of my 9 tips to make living longer enjoyable. You also see an option to contact me with your questions and comments. I welcome your feedback. Finally, thanks again for being a premium club member. Your support helps us keep the program going. I believe that the messages we share each week can lift our spirits, help us to stay engaged, and look forward to getting older no matter what gets in the way. Noel, Dr. Nelson, thanks so much for being a guest on our show. For those who might want to contact you, how can they do that?

Easiest way is through my website, noelnelson.com.

Newell's Nelson.com. Terrific. Okay, well, thanks again for being on our program. I know our audience enjoyed it, and any future listeners will also enjoy it.

Thank you, Joe. It was truly a pleasure.

Oh, great. You're welcome. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in. Hope to see you next time.