NOTE FROM THE CEO

From the CEO

This month’s theme is Defy and this issue of the GB Digital Digest is filled with stories of rebellion. These are personal and peaceful rebellions against the endless efforts to define us as we grow older. They are rebellions against the outdated messaging in an ageist culture that doesn’t yet understand or embrace the opportunity and blessing of extra years.

There are choices we can all make to increase the odds that we will lengthen our lifespan and, more importantly, our health span but there is no one right way to grow older. We are all individuals, experiments of one. You do you.

That is exactly what Miss Stephanie, Lia Coryell, and Joe Johnston are doing every day. That is what our friend and colleague Wendy Chioji did every day in the face of a terminal diagnosis until she ran out of time. If you are reading this, you have not yet run out of time, but the clock is ticking. It is for all of us. It began the moment we were born. Why does it take a deadly disease or major trauma to help us realize that every minute is priceless and filled with endless opportunity to defy? “There are choices we can all make to increase the odds that we will lengthen our lifespan and, more importantly, our health span but there is no one right way to grow older.”