Is it just me or have you too been feeling a little ‘elder peer pressure?’ The message is loud and clear that someone, though I haven’t yet figured out whom, is demanding that we leave our boomer sized comfort zones and spend our final decades recreating, expanding and challenging ourselves. Now. And in a big way.
Newspapers, magazines, websites, social media and even PBS are pushing the notion that we boomers should be traveling, cycling through Europe, running marathons, making new friends, writing Pulitzer prize winning books and starting new businesses in between spending quality time with the grandkids.
Have you seen the commercial that opens with a coed walking across a college campus? She looks up and is pleasantly surprised to see her grandmother waiting for her near the sidewalk. Grandma is standing next to her candy apple red Jeep. She flashes a sheepish smile at her granddaughter and asks, “Road Trip?” The granddaughter beams and says “Yeah!” (Come on. What college coed would prefer a road trip with granny over a frat party or football game? Unless of course there is a known inheritance of some sort.)
Anyway, granny gets behind the wheel of her Jeep, granddaughter buckles up and off they go for an exciting whirlwind weekend. They ride bikes, do yoga by the lake, eat triple scoop ice cream cones-no chocolate (again lacks believability), ride a roller coaster, paddle boat and hike. They perform synchronized classic Arabesque poses while riding electric scooters, attend the theater in the evening and finish off with a little post Sunday brunch shopping. (Rumor has it the advertisers planned on ending the commercial with a shot of them sharing a doob on their boutique hotel rooftop patio but time constraints forced them to drop that scene.)
Really? In one weekend? You and I both know grandma did not sleep well without her own pillows.
As for myself and the boomer grandparents I know, we consider ourselves lucky to have the stamina to survive a short five hour solo stint with our grands. We schlep folding chairs and Camelbacks filled with ice water to soccer fields where we cheer our darlings on during back to back matches, make them a healthy lunch, play a hotly contested round or two of Candy Land, put an end to endless sibling squabbles, read Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site three times and then lovingly zip the youngest into a sleep sack for their afternoon nap. But ok candy apple red Jeep driving grandma, you do you.
I’m a little disappointed with myself for feeling this kind of elder peer pressure to step up my game and become someone bigger? Stronger? Younger and better looking? In my heart of hearts, I have no desire or need to prove my worth to anyone. Isn’t that kind of the gift and wisdom of maturity? We boomers have spent the last six decades proving ourselves, constantly evolving and redrawing our comfort zones. We fell short in some areas, but delivered in many more. And now it seems we are reinventing aging and redefining retirement. As generation TikTok proclaims we, as boomers, “understood the assignment.”
Well everyone just needs to back off because I’m just going to sit here for a sec and relax. Eventually I probably will follow new aspirations as will my fellow baby boomers. But not because of elder peer pressure or commercials telling us we all need to buy candy apple red Jeeps, or go zip-lining or start a cottage industry in our spare bedrooms. Nope, boomers will continue to evolve because making our own way is in our DNA; it’s just how we roll.
What’s a boomer to do? Ponder Mr. Dylan, once more:
“May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift. May you have a strong foundation, when the winds of changes shift. May your heart always be joyful, and may your song always be sung. May you stay forever young.” – Bob Dylan
