I was reading a column this morning by someone who has been writing about aging, She wrote about her life slowing down, her memory sometimes failing her, this next chapter of wrapping up life and heading for the inevitable end.

As someone who has spent much of her life working with older adults, I started my reading of the column with the thought that I’d send it to colleagues, that these words about growing older would inspire and touch us. Instead, I found myself feeling disappointed and a bit betrayed.

The author, having just turned 70, seemed to me to be closing doors and windows in her life, locking herself in her little house of aging, accepting that limitations and deterioration are all that come next.

But the realty is, at least in my universe, that the “truth” of which she writes is just not the truth. Granted, not everyone continues to live a life of international work and travel the way Henry Kissinger did until he was a centenarian. But, our older adults continue to have value and meaning and purpose. They continue to make a difference.

Shall I tell you about the people in their late 80’s who continue to work in demanding careers? Shall I tell about the physician I knew who was still visiting patients well into his 90’s? And that he was the most up-to-date diagnostician in the area? I know a gentleman in his mid-90’s who teaches Tai Chi, elders who share leadership lessons with high school students, the list goes on.

Because the calendar says that you are in the latter part of the years of your life does not mean that you should sigh deeply, put your affairs in order and get ready for the end. No matter your age, you can decide how well you live and how fully. You can decide to learn new things, form new friendships, educate others, create and explore. Growing older is a privilege, continuing to grow ourselves is a choice. Living well, living fully no matter how many days we are given—that is the way we fill our full hearts.