What are your hopes for the year as we enter 2008?

Posted December 28, 2007, 10:59 am by Growing Bolder

Each week, Growing Bolder asks leaders, thinkers, writers, life coaches, entertainers and role models to weigh in on issues affecting your life. Our Thought Leaders include some of the most insightful and accomplished minds in the world.

This time, we're asking: What are your hopes for the year as we enter 2008?


	Sandy Scott I'm going to depart from using the word "hopes" for 2008 and substitute the word "goals." My personality is that I don't waste energy hoping for things -- I simply turn my hopes and dreams into goals and I do whatever it takes to achieve them. It has been a fascinating and arduous journey going from a broken neck just over two years ago to breaking state cycling records. For 2008, I have simple goals -- at least simple to articulate if not simple to achieve -- I intend to break all three of my own state cycling records. I have toyed with the goal of going to the world championships this year in an attempt to win a world title, but the expense and logistics are a bit much. I will be 68 years old at this time next year when I type my goals for 2009 and I intend to do so as a stronger cyclist than I am at this very moment! I know that some day I will have to face the reality of diminishing performance as age wins the battle, but so far, I continue to improve and thumb my nose at the aging process. I so enjoy beating cyclists 30 years my junior! About Sandy Sandy is a master cyclist who was headed for victory in the 2005 Florida Senior games trials when he was nearly killed in a collision. After two years, he's back! The 68-year-old now owns the state record for fastest 5K time by anyone over 60. And this year he's going for more!

Joan Hansen A world where prejudice, intolerance and hatred are erased; a world where people care, respect and help each other; a world where manners, politeness and civility are routine and a world full of love, family and friends. About Joan Joan Hansen is on the front lines of social change. She is the director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program in Orange County, Fla. She helps people over the age of 55 become involved in the community through volunteer work. She is a mentor in the Amachi program and after the untimely passing of her daughter, Joan and her husband are raising their granddaughter Ashley and showing her the world!

	Ronda Beaman Researchers at Harvard did a study on hope. They put rats into a pail of water and timed how long it would take for them to sink and drown. It took seven hours on average. Next they took rats, put them in a pail of water and four hours in, took them out, dried them off, fed them and then put them back into the pail. They survived for 21 hours more! The hope for something better, something good and something more tripled their strength and ultimate survival. My hope for 2008 is to keep hope alive, to see it thrive, to share hope, receive it and nurture it in myself and others. By waking each day with a hope full heart, by giving hopeful words to those who are discouraged and to end each day with hope for a better tomorrow, we can all create a great 2008. About Ronda Ronda is the author of "You're Only Young Twice: 10 Do-Overs to Reawaken Your Spirit." The wife, mother and grandmother is the ultimate renaissance woman -- she holds a doctorate in leadership and she's a dream coach, a distinguished professor and a personal trainer. She recently made her network tv debut as a contestant on "Don't Forget The Lyrics."

Esther Coffield My hopes for 2008 are to get on the ball and finish three books I've started. It's up to me to take them from the computer to between the covers. From there to bestsellers! I have more Sassy Old Broads to expose. With the help of Growing Bolder I have hope! And dear Lord, give me the get up and go. About Esther Esther Coffield is a retired magazine editor and entrepreneur; her stories have appeared in several national magazines and this first novel recently debuted at Southern Festival of Books. With "an abundance of Sassy Old Broads antics," she is currently at work on a sequel.
	Sherrie Mathieson My hopes are hopefully like most folks -- most importantly for good health and more progress towards peace in this world. In terms of my work, I hope the media begins to value the boomer population much more and that it doesn't persist in the way it currently perceives this market. About Sherrie Sherrie Mathieson is an award-winning costume designer and stylist who has created a manual to help bring you and your clothes into the 21st century. Her book,"Forever Cool: How to Achieve Ageless, Youthful and Modern Personal Style" is full of tips for men and women.

Susan Silver My hopes for 2008 -- and this time I'm really serious -- involve wanting peace in the Middle East, but I have not much hope for it. Darfur needs hope and more action. But for myself, I want to travel, learn and meet more than Mr. Adequate while I can still enjoy him. About Susan Susan was a writer for many of the greatest TV shows of all time, including "The Bob Newhart Show," "Mary Tyler Moore," and "Maude." These days, she writes a hilarious relationship column called, "The Search for Mr. Adequate." She is a frequent guest on the Growing Bolder Radio Show.


	Laurie Helgoe My hope is to have a new relationship with time. Instead of "racing time," I want to live in the embrace of time. Instead of taking, stealing or killing time, I want to give time to myself and others. Instead of trying to grab and control time, I want to open my hands and let it go. Speaking of letting go, I have just handed over my most personal work to my publisher. Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength is due out this Spring, and it holds many of my hopes and dreams. Have a blessed, time-abundant, 2008! About Laurie Laurie Helgoe, Ph.D. is a psychologist, a mother, an actress and a prolific writer. She's the author of "The Boomer's Guide to Dating (Again)," "The Anxiety Answer Book," "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Breaking Up," and, new this year, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Raising Boys" and "Introvert Power." She is also contributing columnist for Wealth Manager Magazine.

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Don
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Posted 9:57 am January 5th, 2008
Sandy Scott
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Posted 5:50 pm January 4th, 2008
Sandy Scott
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Posted 5:50 pm January 4th, 2008
Don Ardell
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Posted 5:38 pm January 4th, 2008
My hope? My hope is that the concept of REAL wellness will be more effectively communicated and pursued more widely in 2008. The word is so misused. REAL is an acronym for three amazing lifestyle qualities. These qualities are key, in my view, to a life that is healthier, more enjoyable and ever so much more satisfying than what passes for “normal,” which is not very healthy, enjoyable or satisfying. The REAL qualities of wellness are Reason, Exuberance And Liberty. These qualities are foundation elements of 69 tips for genuine, authentic and yes, REAL wellness in my new book "Aging Beyond Belief."

The wellness concept is a powerful idea. It’s a term that has been widely used, but the best parts of the original wellness mindset or philosophy have been neglected. These elements include personal responsibility, critical thinking, the quest for added meaning and purpose, humor, play, happiness and emotional intelligence. Make no mistake - there is a lot more to REAL wellness than exercise and nutrition. All parts or skill areas of REAL wellness are addressed in the 69 tips. The tips demonstrate that REAL wellness is not a product, a healing remedy, a medical service or anything else outside of oneself, but a way of life that you manage and direct. You can’t buy pills or treatments for REAL wellness – it’s a mindset and lifestyle you control. Therefore, let Reason, Exuberance And Liberty - REAL wellness, be your guide!

We all need good advice for aging well. The tips are based upon your willingness and ability to employ reason (evidence-based decision-making) in order to experience exuberance in daily life that in turn will enrich your enjoyment of maximum liberty (freedom and choice).

Wellness is about personal responsibility, exercise and fitness, nutrition, stress management and meaning and purpose. Such a lifestyle celebrates reason as critical thinking and exuberant aliveness, joy and pleasure in a context of maximum liberty, choice and freedom. And all this is just for starters. REAL wellness invites attention as well to sound relationships, resilience and much else that we associate with a high quality of life, not just related to aging – but in all stages of life.

So, my hope is a better and bolder lifestyle for vastly more people than are enjoying such at present.

Go Bolder Boulder.
Growing Bolder
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Posted 10:03 am January 3rd, 2008