Shop
 Explore 

Golden Years

Identity

One man turned nursing home design on its head when he created this stunning facility

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Every night around 5:30 p.m., she stood up and told the staff at her Ohio nursing home that she needed to leave. When they asked why, she said she needed to go home to take care of her mother. Her mom, of course, had long since passed away.

Behavior like Norma's is quite common for older folks suffering from Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Walter, another man in the same assisted living facility, demanded breakfast from the staff every night around 7:30.

Keep ReadingShow less

Identity

75-year-old ‘hip-hop granny’ impresses and inspires with her dance moves

Ms. Stephanie didn’t even start formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

@fiercefitnessty/TikTok

Ms. Stephanie bringing it at her hip-hop class.

Stephanie Walsh isn't your average hip-hop dancer. At 75, "Ms. Stephanie" is still able to hold her own on the dance floor, popping and locking with people a third her age, and she loves it.

When you see her dance—and her enviable muscle tone—you might think she'd been a trained dancer all her life. But she actually didn't take any formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

Walsh told Growing Bolder that she had wanted her daughter to dance when she was little, so she got her ballet lessons, which the daughter hated. Realizing that dancing was her dream and not her daughter's, Walsh took her kiddo out of ballet and started classes herself right away.

She had always loved to dance and developing her skills only led to more and more dancing.

Keep ReadingShow less

joy

Identity

Watch this 104-yr-old woman break the world tandem skydiving record

Dorothy Hoffner tried skydiving for the first time on her 100th birthday and loved it.

@skydivechicago/Instagram

Dorothy Hoffner is pure #agingoals.

If you're looking for some aging inspiration, look no further, because Dorothy Hoffner is about to blow your mind.

At 104, Hoffner just became the oldest person to parachute out of an airplane in a tandem skydive. That's right, skydive. At 104 years old—or to be exact, 104 years and 289 days old—beating the previous world record set by a 103-year-old in Sweden in May of 2022.

But it's actually even more impressive than that. It's not like Hoffner is someone who's been skydiving since she was young and just happened to keep on doing it as she got older. She actually didn't go on her first skydiving adventure until her 100th birthday.

On Oct 1, 2023, she joined the team at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, for the world-breaking tandem skydive. Though she uses a walker to get around, she manages the physical toll of plummeting through the air at 10,000+ feet before parachuting to a skidding stop strapped to a certified U.S. Parachute Association (USPA) tandem instructor with impressive ease.

“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” Hoffner said after she boarded the plane, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Watch her do what many of us would be too terrified to attempt:

See on Instagram

The way she rolls right out of that plane cool as a cucumber! Hoffner told the Tribune that on her first skydive, at age 100, she had to be pushed out of the plane. But this time, knowing what she was in for, she took charge with calm confidence.

“Skydiving is a wonderful experience, and it’s nothing to be afraid of," Hoffner shares. "Just do it!”

That's some seriously sage advice from someone who knows firsthand that age really is just a number. Learn more about skydiving with Skydive Chicago here.

From Your Site Articles

aging goals

Identity

Woman's reaction to finding out she's turning 100 is so wholesome and relatable

"Son of a gun! I don't feel 100. Wow…I feel maybe 50…55, maybe."

Photo by Xiang Gao on Unsplash

A 100th birthday is a big deal.

At some point in our journey through life, we realize that our body is far older than our inner self feels. I recall talking to my grandmother on her 80th birthday and hearing her sigh over the phone before telling me, "I don't feel 80." I understood exactly what she meant. In my mind, I've been 24 for the past two decades.

Apparently, that gap between how old we are and how old we feel only gets wider as we get older, as demonstrated by a centenarian grandmother whose reaction to finding out she was turning 100 went viral.

Chelsea Dornan shared a video on her Instagram page of a conversation she had with her grandma leading up to her 100th birthday. At first, the woman seemed surprised to find out she was going to hit triple digits soon, but then she confirmed what year it was and did the math herself.

Keep ReadingShow less

centenarians

Golden Years

'You date people you think you deserve. You deserve better.'

"What if we design an environment that looks like outside?" he said. "What if I can have a sunrise and sunset inside the building?

92-year-old Norma had a strange and heartbreaking routine.

Confusion is common in Alzheimer's patients, but Makesh knew there had to be some way to minimize these conflicts.

Instead of rooms or units, each resident gets a "home" on a quiet little indoor street reminiscent of the neighborhoods many of them grew up in.

Instead of a boring panel ceiling, residents look up and see a digital sky, which grows dimmer late in the day to help keep their biological clocks in tune.

Throughout the day, nature sounds and fresh aromas like peppermint or citrus are piped in.

For Makesh, this isn't just about making patients comfortable, though. He wants to change how we think about the endgame of severe dementia.

Of course, we're a long way from a cure for Alzheimer's.

Ms. Stephanie didn’t even start formal dance lessons until she was almost 30.

Dorothy Hoffner tried skydiving for the first time on her 100th birthday and loved it.

These powerful before-and-after photos reveal just how beautiful aging can be.

Centenarians — people 100 years or older — are a rarity. Their lives are often scrutinized as holding the key to aging.

1. Prokop Vejdělek, at age 22 and 101

2. Bedřiška Köhlerová, at age 26 and 103

3. Ludvík Chybík, at age 20 and 102

4. Vincenc Jetelina, at age 30 and 105

5. Marie Fejfarová, at age 101

6. Antonín Kovář, at age 25 and 102

7. Anna Vašinová, at age 22 and 102

8. Stanislav Spáčil, at age 17 and 102

9. Anna Pochobradská, at age 30 and 100

10. Antonín Baldrman, at age 17 and 101

11. Marie Burešová, at age 23 and 101

12. Vlasta Čížková, at age 23 and 101

13. Ludmila Vysloužilová, at age 23 and 101

Senior citizens like to have fun, too.

But you know who else playgrounds are good for? Senior citizens!

In Spain, where the population is aging, senior-citizen playgrounds have been popping up for a while.

The playgrounds in Spain sure seem to be serving their purpose.

And it's not just happening in Spain. The idea has caught on in the U.S. too!

"Son of a gun! I don't feel 100. Wow…I feel maybe 50…55, maybe."