Curiosity May Help Women Age With Purpose and Engagement
The author reflects on aging and draws on seminars with older women, emphasizing curiosity as a way to stay adaptable and open to learning. She notes that aging well involves integrating loss and gratitude while gaining clearer priorities and self-trust. The piece suggests that women can continue to create meaningful, engaged lives in later years.
Dale V. Atkins, Ph.D., began leading seminars on growing older when she was 40, with participants in their 60s through 90s. Her mother remained vigorous until shortly before turning 98, while most other family members died earlier than Atkins is now. She considers reaching later life a matter of fortune and personal strength.
From those seminars, she concluded that later years can bring sharper priorities, greater confidence in their own judgment, and a reduced urge to satisfy everyone else. Curiosity, she suggests, helps women stay flexible and interested, whether through classes, hobbies, or new experiences. She frames aging as balancing sorrow with thankfulness while choosing where to invest limited time.
This perspective may resonate with older women, caregivers, families, and health professionals. If curiosity and intentional time use support engagement, readers could reconsider later life as a period of learning and connection rather than decline. It may also encourage intergenerational conversations about purpose, loss, and gratitude. However, individual experiences vary, and such reflections are not a substitute for medical or mental health care.