You’ve heard the saying, “Getting old is not for sissies.” Well, it is a cute saying, but it really doesn’t describe the maturation process very well. Truth is, as a baby boomer, you can’t afford to get old – literally or figuratively.

Maybe you could in the world our parents lived in, but today, if you allow yourself or you allow others to think of you as old, you’re forgotten and irrelevant. And, if you’re irrelevant, you are at risk. You’re more likely to live longer, but with much less, which means that your quality of life will suffer.

Frankly, our parents didn’t prepare us for this reality … at least mine didn’t. First of all, they died early – my mother just before her 51st birthday and my father at 63 – so I never had a chance to see what life would be like for them at my age and beyond. Secondly, they and others like them seemed to have embraced the concept that they would just work until they could receive full social security benefits and then slide into peaceful retirement. They didn’t feel the need to stay current by learning about computers and technology such as smartphones, GPS, Googling and the Internet. They believed they could continue living their lives the way they always had and let the rest of the world move on. And, mostly, they were right in their assumptions, because at retirement age not much more was expected of them than to take care of their health so that they could stay in their homes as long as possible. They weren’t even expected to manage their finances; they could turn to their children to help them with that.

We baby boomers seem to have higher expectations for ourselves, as well as others of us. I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I don’t want to give up, sit in a rocker on the front porch, and let younger people take care of me. I’m not ready to concede that younger people are smarter, quicker, and more effective than I am at doing those things I’ve done for at least four decades.

I’ll admit that the seemingly daily barrage of new software, new media, and new ways of connecting with people is daunting, but I haven’t given in yet. I’m trying to add new ways of communicating on a regular basis and, trust me, the computer doesn’t blow up when I make a mistake. One of the best things I’ve been able to do is lead a PR Writing Lab class at the University of North Florida this fall semester. The professor for the online part of the course, who is a full-time professor at UNF, has been very supportive of my efforts. She reminds me regularly that, in truth, the students in my class understand the social media less or maybe only slightly better than I do and that I’m the PR expert who can teach them about the real world. Trying to navigate the new ways to communicate to target audiences with the students has encouraged me to keep learning and exploring for my own purposes, like this blog.

I have to acknowledge that my daughter often shakes her head over what I don’t understand about technology; however, she is always patient to explain the 21st century to me. Mostly, I feel pretty comfortable that I am still in the game. I do wonder how employers view me. I suspect they think that I am too close to retirement and too “out of it” to be useful to them for long.

What they forget is that when they hire someone young, they may get the newest, freshest talent, but they also get someone who doesn’t know workplace politics and how to navigate them to be successful, someone who wants to run things and doesn’t understand the concept of “paying their dues,” and someone who will leave them in five years or less, just after the company has had to expend professional development funds to get the inexperienced worker up to speed.

That’s the long and the short of it, then. The struggle to be relevant occurs at the beginning and the end of careers, it seems. Enjoy being in the middle of your career and extend it as long as you can or as long as you want to be working. Start making plans now for what you want to do after you leave “regular” work, unless that rocking chair really was your goal.