Prime Time Living 6.14.26 - Flipbook - Page 18
18
| Sunday, June 14, 2026
HEALTH
The Longevity Effect
Two acclaimed authors
share their views
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
S
omewhere around the turn of the century – from the 20th to the 21st, not
from the 1800s to the 1900s – Abigail Trafford, then the health editor at The
Washington Post, had an epiphany, a recognition that the people around her and
in her various professional and social circles were living longer, healthier lives. She saw
the changes living longer was affording them. There really was another period in our
lives, she thought, “a totally new and separate phase in personal development,” that we
hadn’t noticed before. Three fellowships later, her book, My Time, was published, where
she details all the clues she got about what was going on. Trafford names them “Jolts”
because the shocked her out of complacency and moved her forward.
It’s now over
25 years later
and Longevity
(spelled with a
capital L) is a
lot more mainstream,
more
familiar to those
who turn around
and see that the
years after 60
were definitely
not the beginning of our denouement.
In fact, as Trafford details it, there needs
to be a name for the time between
middle age and old age. She calls it
a personal renaissance comprised
of Bonus Decades. When is it? “The
answer is: when the primary tasks of
adulthood have been completed, for
better or for worse. Children have been
raised. Marriages have been made –
and remade. Career goals have been
achieved—or not. You’ve paid the mortgage, filled out your resume. And then
what?” she details in her book.
Don Akchin writes novels, short stories
and essays from his home in Baltimore.
He is the publisher of The EndGame
on Substack and a fan of these bonus
decades since he’s an active and avid
participant.
Akchin states firmly that it should
never be referred to as retirement.
“When you retire from the battlefield you
withdraw; when you retire from work, it’s
the end of the something. None of these
are accurate in describing what comes
next, maybe stage three or the fourth
quarter.” How about overtime?
“I chose the name ‘AfterWork’ for this
period, an unacknowledged new stage
of life. Before 1900 there was no such
thing as teenagers. You went from childhood to adulthood.
“The AfterWork could be a brandnew beginning, an opening where you
don’t have the same responsibilities that
burdened you in the past. You can
do something for
yourself because
the obligations
that remain are
the ones you
chose for yourself and, if you
don’t succeed,
well, it’s fine. Call
it an experiment,
switch
gears,
and do whatever you want – it’s
your choice. You can just keep reinventing yourself.”
The AfterWork: Finding Fulfilling
Alternatives to Retirement is also the
name of Akchin’s book. “It’s full of anecdotes and useful information,” he says.
“When the time comes, there are four
paths:
• Keep working full time
• Do something part time, possibly a
continuation of what you’ve done
before or go into a new field, or
maybe test-drive a new career
• Volunteer: there are myriad
non-profits out there who need you,
your advice and experience
• Create your own: like those shops
at malls where you can build a bear,
build what you now want your life to
look like. A creative pursuit, play the
trumpet, harmonica, or the kazoo.
Become a stand-up comic. (I know
someone who does this!)”
Whatever you choose, no one
depends on you, so if you make a mistake, who cares. You could even go back
to school. Since 1989, the University
System of Maryland allows those over
60 to attend classes at any one of the
schools under its banner for free. Here’s
