live 'til 100 and love it!

We're now living decades longer than we were a few generations ago. And a growing number of experts say it's possible to thrive and flourish in those later years, if we take steps now. Here's where to start.

- MEGHAN RABBITT

If there's one thing Rose Cooper doesn't understand about aging, it's the people with an it's-all-downhill from here point of view.

At age 95, Rose has talked to a fair number of folks who've said some version of that old trope to her. "I just don't have that attitude at all," she says. "I feel lucky to be here, and very hopeful. If something happens, I look on the bright side and figure out what to do next!"

Laura Carstensen, Ph.D., can relate to the idea that there's a need for an attitude shift about aging. She's a professor of psychology at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity-and she's tired of the gloom-and-doom outlook based on the fact that life expectancy has been increasing. For years, she and her colleagues imagined a time when many of us would routinely live to our 100th birthdays. Now demographers estimate that by 2050, that will be the reality. Yet while the increase in life expectancy of nearly 30 years in the 20th century is arguably one of the greatest achievements in human history, it has a lot of people feeling more anxious than excited, says Carstensen.

"Most of the conversations about aging and increased life expectancy focus mainly on coping with an increasingly large number of people who are declining, she says. "But this white-knuckle approach blocks creative thinking about how living longer could help us live better throughout our lives."

Carstensen decided to do something about this by launching an initiative called The New Map of Life. Her goal: to write a fresh narrative about longevity and the steps we'll need to take individually, and as a society to enhance the quality of our longer lives. After all, if we're looking at an average of 30 more years of life than our ancestors had, we want them to be filled with health, happiness, and an upbeat attitude like 95-year-old Rose Cooper's.