Hard to imagine living that long, isn’t it? You should consider the possibility because it is increasingly likely that you may be around for your triple digit birthday. People who pass the century mark are called centenarians and their numbers are soaring. A few years back, in 2000, the United States had only about 50,000 centenarians. Over the next fourteen years, their numbers jumped 44% to 72,000. We’re living longer, much longer than you might expect. Looking ahead to the year 2050, the forecast is for as many as 800,000 people age 100 or older!

The over-100 group is the fastest growing segment of the population by percentage. The increase in the number of centenarians is twenty times greater than the general population. Imagine your retirement lasting four decades!

The potential for my reaching 100 is one of the powerful thoughts that propelled me to research what it takes to make all this extra time enjoyable. I wanted to find how to be happy for that long. A slogan I’ve coined for myself is, “I want to be ready to die tomorrow, yet able to live past 100.” By “ready,” I mean that my personal affairs are in order so I don’t leave a mess behind for my loved ones to sort out after I die. “Able to live past 100” is another way of saying that I want to know how to enjoy being an older adult. In a word: THRIVE.