MINDFULNESS FOR BEGINNERS GRANDFAMILY ADVENTURES
NEVER STOP CLIMBING O R D I N A RY P E O P L E L I V I N G E X T R AO R D I N A RY L I V E S
WINTER 2019 $9.9 9 G R O W I N G B O L D E R / VO L . 3 5
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CONTENTS
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Photo by Michael Cairns
features 30 WRITE YOUR NEXT CHAPTER Actress Vivica A. Fox's tips for building your dream squad
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Photo by Chris Noble
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NEVER STOP CLIMBING Rock climbing legend Lynn Hill has more mountains to climb
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I'M NOT AN ECO WARRIOR. I'M A SURVIVOR World's greatest living explorer sounds an alarm
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THE FIRST COMMODORE Thomas McClary’s comeback is Easy (Like Sunday Morning)
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BOLDER BOOKS Books to help you appreciate the gifts of time
WINTER 2019
in every issue
growing bolder adventures
6 EDITOR'S NOTE 10 CONTRIBUTORS 12 YOUR TAKE Readers weigh in: to grey or not to grey? 16 GROWING BOLDER WITH Big Names. Bold Lives. 44 FUNCTIONAL FITNESS One simple exercise to help you get fit for life 54 5 QUESTIONS Silicon Valley's oldest employee smashes the grey ceiling 58 TRANSLATING TECH How VR is changing the world around us 76 THE ART OF CAREGIVING Using tech to manage caregiving challenges 96 THE TAKEAWAY Actor Tony Danza on loving life now 98 GROWING BOLDER STYLE Dare to add flair with accessories
20 THE SOUL EXPLORERS From Australia to the world, one story at a time 38 EXPATS Retiring abroad can be like a permanent summer vacation 68 GRANDFAMILY ADVENTURES Exploring the world with your grandkids 84 BETWEEN THE ROCK AND THE HARD PLACE What makes Yellowstone National Park so hot?
food & nutrition 29 53
SIMPLE ELEGANCE A hidden secret to impress your guests RESTAURANT REVIEW: XOCHI Houston hotspot takes you on a culinary journey
arts & entertainment 36 42 80
LATE BLOOMER At 71, dancer shines on America's Got Talent WHAT'S NEXT? Alan Alda: the world's oldest millennial THE VOICE OF PROG ROCK Yes's Jon Anderson is back, bolder than ever
essays 60 LIVE DANGEROUSLY Dr. Bill Thomas wants you to fall in love with taking risks 86 LIFE LESSONS Olympic icon Rowdy Gaines shares 3 lessons for success 90 A TENUOUS GRIP ON LIFE Long-time Today correspondent on the moment he nearly lost it all
masters sports 43 72 82
IRON WOMAN Late to the game but first to the finish RELENTLESS FORWARD PROGRESS Cancer survivor moves forward, one race at a time LIFE IN FOCUS Photographer finds inspiration in masters sports
personal transformation 18 24 26 40
REIMAGINING RETIREMENT It’s never too late for your second act THE OBITUARY EXERCISE How Eco-adventurist Roz Savage stopped drifting and started rowing THE MUSHROOM MAN Meet the rock star of mushroom photography CLASSIC CARS Restoring memories, one classic car at a time
mind, body & spirit 32 62 66 74 78 88
WISDOM OF THE INNER WITNESS Mindfulness practice for beginners A REVOLUTION IN WELLBEING Real stories of inspiration THE LONGEVITY PARADOX The thing we most aspire to is the greatest threat to our future THE POWER OF PREHABILITATION Get your body ready now for whatever comes next THE BIOLOGY OF AGING 5 scientific concepts that prove we can change the way we age MEDITATION FOR SKEPTICS Dan Harris on taming our critical, chaotic inner voices
ON THE COVE R Legendary climber Lynn Hill has reached new heights in her sport. Adventure photographer Chris Noble captured these stunning images of Lynn climbing "Outer Space," the Northwest Buttress of the Bastille, Eldorado Canyon in Colorado (cover photo) and scaling The Bird in the Ak-Su, Pamirs in Kyrgyzstan in 1995 (previous page). G R O W I N G B O L D E R / VO L . 3 5
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EDITOR'S NOTE
Welcome to What’s Next BY M A R C M I D D L E TO N
There is now an entirely new life stage that has never before existed. Thanks to advances in medicine, healthcare, technology and mostly improved personal lifestyle choices, we have a two-, three- or even four-decade opportunity for meaningful life beyond what had been considered normal retirement age. This new life stage offers nearly limitless opportunities to reinvent yourself.
Now is the time to look at life through a new lens that isn’t distorted by obligation. The things that defined you for decades are gone. If you’re retired, your job no longer defines you. If you’re an empty nester, your children no longer define you. If you’re widowed or divorced, your spouse no longer defines you. When the shackles of expectation are removed, there’s an emancipation that comes with growing older. We’re no longer constrained to living linear lives, in which our activities must reflect our ages. There are no longer any arbitrary age-related rules as to what’s possible and acceptable at any life stage. We can go to college at 50, get married at 60, start a business at 70, join the Peace Corps at 75, begin running at 80, take up acting at 90 and write a book at 100. Almost anything is possible, which is why we need coaches, guidance counselors, role models, business incubators and educational opportunities -- all geared toward people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Most importantly, we need a new belief system. That’s because when imagining “what’s next,” we’re often limited by the accepted boundaries of possibility -- and those boundaries have been drawn by an ageist culture that encourages us to withdraw and watch life from the sidelines. The key to making the most of this new life stage and discovering what’s next is overcoming fear with action. We must learn to take risks, embrace failure and discover the magic of saying “yes!” to new opportunities. To be afraid to fail is to be afraid to live. And we can’t stop if we fail, because we probably will. Everyone does, at least at first. The only question that matters is this one: How many times are we willing to fail before we succeed? Those who ultimately become good at something are simply those who were OK with being bad at it for a while. The key is developing a beginner’s mind, which is open to new ideas and possibilities and understands that failure is nothing more than feedback. So, what’s next for you?
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Daily Inspiration @GrowingBolder G R O W I N G B O L D E R / VO L . 3 5
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WRITE YOUR NEXT CHAPTER BY JAC K I E C A R L I N
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Vivica A. Fox is one of the fiercest women in Hollywood. She’s gone toe-to-toe with aliens in Independence Day, Uma Thurman’s revenge-seeking Bride in the Kill Bill movies and Larry David’s alter ego on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In a career that has spanned three decades—and counting —she’s still finding new ways to make an impact and stand out. “There’s no doubt that I chose a very tough business,” Fox says. “What I’ve discovered is life is all about chapters. As my daddy used to tell me, when one chapter is over, learn to put a period on it and turn the page.” Fox says ones of the keys to gracefully moving between life’s various chapters is versatility. In a field that worships at the altar of youth, Fox, who is proud to be 54, says she’s just learned to take on new roles and skills. In addition to acting in front of the camera, she also has starred in stage productions; she’s hosting a new talk show called Face the Truth (airing on CBS and produced by Dr. Phil); she has her own hair collection; she’s starring in and producing a new series of thrillers for the Lifetime Movie Network called the Wrong franchise; and she’s just written what she calls a “motivational memoir,” Every Day I’m Hustling. Fox says these days, she feels the clock ticking—but that only motivates her to work even harder. “To be very honest with you, sometimes my clock is ticking so fast I don’t have enough time for all the stuff that I
honeymoon phase. I call it their "agent" shows for the first three months. Then about that fifth or sixth month, suddenly, the real person shows up. Don't jump into the shallow end of the pool headfirst.” Despite her challenges, Fox says she wouldn’t trade a thing about her age or life experiences. “I've always been a person who believed in being so perfect, but now I’m letting people know I've been through a lot trials and tribulations,” she says. “One of my favorite things to do is to give motivational speeches to young people. It's so funny because sometimes somebody will say something like, ‘You’re old.’ And, you know what? It's a blessing to get older, because none of us are promised tomorrow.” Fox says as you learn to page through the chapters of life, don’t be afraid to be kind, laugh out loud and just enjoy yourself. It’s a philosophy that continues to serve her well and one she’d love to see spread far and wide.
Learn to build yourself a dream squad. Surround yourself with people who see different chapters and opportunities for you that you didn’t even see yourself.
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have going on!” Fox says. “But I have an excellent team supporting me.” That’s one of the lessons Fox hopes readers will take from her book: “Learn to build yourself a dream squad. Surround yourself with people who see different chapters and opportunities for you that you didn’t even see yourself.” Adds Fox: “You've got to learn to get people around you that believe in you, support you and don't take away from your time, your personality and your spirit.” Fox says she hasn’t always had healthy relationships and some played out in the public eye. Now, she says, she’s using those hard lessons learned to inform her work in the Wrong franchise and to coach others to take their time and really get to know someone before opening their lives and their families’ lives to someone new. “Make sure that people are really who they say they are,” she adds. “Because when you meet someone, it's always the
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Lynn Hill scaling the Bird in the Ak-Su, in Pamirs in Kyrgyzstan, 1995 Photo: Chris Noble.
NEVER STOP CLIMBING The Power of Determination and Detachment. BY M A R C M I D D L E TO N
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Depending upon whom you talk to, Lynn Hill is the greatest female athlete ever, the greatest female rock climber in history or simply the greatest rock climber of all-time. No matter which description might be used, few would argue against it. Hill, it seems, was born to climb. As a young girl, she climbed everything from trees to streetlights. She took up gymnastics but hated that she had “to smile and do cutesy little routines on the floor.” She would eventually leave the sport but took with her the skills, body awareness, focus and determination that would turn her into a living legend and transform the sport of rock-climbing. The first time Hill climbed a rock face was at age 14, and she excelled immediately. She spent the early ’80s traveling the U.S. and climbing increasingly difficult routes while setting records for first female and first overall ascents. Hill discovered competitive climbing during a visit to France in 1986. For the next six years she dominated indoor and outdoor competition, winning more than 30 major international titles. In 1992, with nothing left to prove, she returned to her first love—rock climbing. She quickly set the audacious goal of becoming the first person, male or female, to free climb The Nose of El Capitan, considered the Holy Grail among climbers worldwide. El Capitan is the most famous piece of rock on the planet for big-wall climbers, and The Nose is the iconic slab of granite rising nearly 3,000 feet straight up above the Yosemite Valley floor. For years, the best climbers in the world had been making a steady pilgrimage to Yosemite trying to achieve what was considered unachievable. No one had come close. In 1993, Hill stunned the climbing world when she made the first successful free ascent on The Nose. The climb took four days. Amazingly, she returned the next year and did it again in less than 24 hours. No one, man nor women, was able to repeat her successful climb for over 10 years. She was that far ahead of everybody else. “The Nose was so sheer and so blank that people couldn't see how to hang on,” Hill says. “It took very intricate sequencing, body positions and strength to do it.” Hill is, without question, bold, daring, ingenious, clever and strategic. But she’s not crazy. Free climbing is defined as using your hands and feet with no equipment to help. There’s a rope for protection in the event of a fall, but it can’t be used for assistance. A free solo climb has no rope and therefore no safety net. A single mistake typically results in death. It’s the kind of climbing made famous with the recent release of the National Geographic documentary film, Free Solo, a stunning portrait of Alex Honnold’s live or die quest to scale El Cap without a rope. “That's not what we do,” Hill says. “Rock climbing is the sport that people practice when they go to artificial climbing walls. They're not using their rope to get to the top of the wall. The whole point is to climb the wall on your own because it's fun to climb. There's something innately satisfying about using your body in that way. It's a little bit like a ballet routine and the rock itself is the choreographer.” Hill had no role models to show her what was possible, and she had to overcome a climbing culture in the early ’90s that all but scoffed at the notion that anyone, especially a woman, could climb The Nose.
A DV E N T U R E S
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QUESTIONS
With Silicon Valley’s Oldest Employee BY JAC K I E C A R L I N
Barbara Beskind smashes stereotypes every time she goes to work. At 94, she is by far the oldest member of the world-famous, human-centered design team IDEO in Silicon Valley. Some of IDEO’s designs include Apple’s first mouse and the Pilates machine. Many of Beskind's co-workers are 60 or even 70 years younger, but they’re soaking up her life experiences. Beskind's joined the Army during World War II, and until her retirement as a major in 1966, worked in occupational therapy designing equipment for wounded and polio-stricken soldiers. She went on to open the country’s first independent occupational therapy clinic. Beskind's joins us for our “5 Questions” feature to explain what companies are missing when they ignore the braintrust of those 65 and older.
LIFELONG LE ARNING
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THE TAKEAWAY
Photos by Charlie Roina/Jill Fritzo PR
Throughout his 40-year show business career, Tony Danza has done it all. The former boxer famously got his start when he was spotted in the gym by a producer, leading to his first role on Taxi. Starring roles in beloved shows and films such as Who’s the Boss? and Angels in the Outfield followed, earning Danza Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. He has also starred on Broadway, hosted his own talk show and, at 67, is back in a starring role in the Netflix series The Good Cop, co-starring singer Josh Groban as his son.
Life is about taking advantage of the opportunities you’re given. Not in the hope that they lead to success, but in the hope that they lead to happiness. When opportunities come into my life, I don’t take them to succeed or for the chance that they might lead to another
The real beauty of having a kid when you’re so young is that he gets to know all your relatives. He knew his greatgrandmother, he lived with my mother, he knew all the uncles, all the aunts. A few years back, we sat down and tried to write this sort of memoir cookbook about our relatives, and what was great was that he knew stories that I didn't know. Now, he has his own boys. And it's really profound to watch your son fathering his son -- especially when he’s so much better at it than you are. I was living in Los Angeles for a long time and unfortunately, my marriage broke up and I ended up moving back to New York. And I’ve got to tell you, being in New York City, single at this stage of my life is -- well, as you might imagine -- really nice. We shot our new Netflix show in New York City, which is one of the great privileges of all time to use the city as a canvas. I'm just really living large. Between the act, this new show, my family and my grandkids, life is good.
My advice is no matter what you do, you have to truly believe that even though you can't do what anybody else could do, they can't do what you can do. job. I do them for the joy of the experience. When I perform my live shows, I’m not out there to get a good review. I’m out there to enjoy the gift that’s been given to me. Everybody in the audience would love to be doing what I'm doing, but I'm the guy getting to do it. This is a really exciting time in my life. I had my son when I was 19, and when you have a kid at that age, one of two things could happen: you could ruin both of your lives, or you could enjoy the greatest relationship because you basically grew up together. Thankfully in our case, it was the latter. T H E TA K E AWAY
My advice for successful aging is simple. Be mindful of what you eat, and exercise religiously. I do something every day and try to make it different from the day before. I box, lift weights, in-line skate, tap dance and ride a recumbent stationary bike. Doing many different things makes staying in shape fun. And always keep a good attitude. You can’t be happy all the time, but you can be positive. You must truly believe that even though you can't do what somebody else can do, they can't do what you can do.
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