Dear Reader: We are again fortunate and pleased to present the writings of the inestimable Len Filppu – this time with today’s launch of his new book, PRIME TIME DADS: 45 Reasons to Embrace Midlife Fatherhood.
At the start of the 20th century, the average American lived only 47 years. Life expectancy for that same American born today is approximately 78 years. Life expectancy in the United States is currently longer than ever before, and it is on the increase.
These advances are not driven by chugging Methuselah mash from the latest fountain of youth or even esoteric medical innovations affordable mainly by billionaires. It’s about down to earth basics that are directly within our control.
If we take care of ourselves, eat wisely, get exercise, go for regular medical and dental exams, and avoid hazardous activities such as smoking and discussing politics with irrational relatives, we can stay healthy, active and vital well into our later decades.
In fact, new research from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, was recently heralded with large font headlines proclaiming, “72 is the new 30!” The research shows that human life expectancy is rising faster than it has for 200 millennia. Primitive hunter gatherers, at age 30, had the same odds of dying as a modern Swedish or Japanese man would face at age 72.
Gains in human longevity are not attributed to genetics but to the invention of antibiotics and vaccines, improvements in agricultural efficiency, and the greater availability of food and clean water.
It’s confirming what we already know. We get a better shot at living longer if we change our behaviors. Remember what Mama told and scolded. No nicotine, limit the booze, get outdoors and get some exercise, go to bed at a reasonable hour, eat your vegetables, and don’t be a stranger at the doctor’s office.
Men today are not content to be saddled with addled characterizations of male maturation drawn not from reality but from cartoonish, buffoonish television sitcoms. Those obsolete notions about middle-aged men flopping onto sofas to fall comatose watching Matlock reruns are outdated, out of line, and just plain out to lunch.
The forward march of health, medicine, and technology provides everyone with virtually limitless opportunities for renewal, redefinition, and revitalization. Better medicine, nutrition, and physical and psychological activities are widely available to a maturing population that refuses to fade quietly away and continues to challenge and demand more from existing systems.
Midlife years are becoming an active and even perfect prime time for creative changes, for making unfulfilled dreams come true, for re-evaluating and attaining deeper meaning in life. Mature people are increasingly devising new strategies to stay active, healthy, vibrant, involved, and aware throughout their years.
Do not accept the moldy oldy stereotypes. Smash the mold. You’re as young as you think, and when you think about it, you’re still a work in progress. Every day forward gives you another shot at retooling your conduct, redefining your potential, reimagining your future, and recharging your spirit.
Apply a healthy dose of skepticism to being told you’re too old for fatherhood. I was so bombarded and brainwashed by Madison Avenue and fractured folk tales telling me only youth should have youngsters that I almost missed the single most rewarding journey of my life.
Len Filppu, 62, regularly blogs for Huffington Post Parents and is a writer/screenwriter who’s worked as a communications executive in Silicon Valley, served as a press secretary to Jimmy Carter and on Capitol Hill, and helped produce a low budget rock ‘n’ roll horror movie. The best thing he ever did was become a first-time father in midlife. He has a 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.
Visit http://www.primetimedads.com/to connect with Len, and to read about and share with others the adventures of prime time fatherhood. Read Len’s Huffington Post Parents columns at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/