Peck practices what he preaches for aging well

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

John Henry Peck insists that the older he gets, the younger he gets.

That unlikely paradox may seem like a lot of new-age, feel-good blather until you spend some time talking with this 73-year-old dynamo. Tightly wound and determined to keep on ticking for at least another 20 years, he's convinced fellow seniors also can resist physical decline by consciously choosing to live longer and happier lives.

Peck accurately equates himself with Charlie, the hyperactive, impulsive, fun-loving, rule-breaking Jack Russell terrier he intentionally selected "to get me up off my butt."

Like his canine companion, Peck is "hard-wired for energy." He, in fact, literally boils over with it. Thoughts, stories, ideas and the words of philosophers and spiritual guides ancient and modern flow forth frantically, leaping over those just departed in a dusty wake. His hands are in constant motion, manually attempting to weave together this rich tapestry, fists periodically pounding the table for emphasis.

Of course, such drive should come as no surprise for a man who is convinced that his divine calling has carried him through three distinct careers as a civil engineer, Presbyterian minister and social worker. In the latter, he served as director of the Senior Employment Service and Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

That diverse path has continually refined Peck's priorities--reinforcing his disdain for bureaucracies and his lack of interest in lucre--while carrying him to where he needs to be today, helping elders remain vital and contributing to their community.

Peck arrived at his current vocation quite unintentionally after moving to Fort Collins 25 years ago to start a new life. "I thought finding a job would be a piece of cake," he recalled. But it wasn't such a sweet experience.

"I discovered in the real world you have to bust your butt," he said. After a stint of selling televisions and real estate, Peck's lack of monetary motivation again arose at the same time as he was called to a new career. Peck realized that he could put his experience to work assisting others in a similar situation.

"The difficulty I had getting a job made me damn good at helping other people find jobs." he said. "Most people don't realize what gifts they have. Older people are very employable if they could just see it."

Peck proved his own claim after retiring and being literally born again when he nearly died twice after suffering prostate cancer and undergoing two multiple heart bypass surgeries. Peck realized he could use the lessons learned through his recovery to help seniors to do the same.

"It's how you handle it after you crash and burn," he said. "We think we're victims."

Although one cannot always cheat genetic disposition to certain maladies, Peck said it's his firm belief that "you have much more control and responsibility than you think you do."

Ideally, he said, people should begin preparing to become happier, healthier seniors in their 50s and 60s. But still, he said, it's never too late.

"I'm doing everything to put the odds in my favor," Peck said, noting that he's lost 44 pounds in five years while reducing his daily intake of pills from 28 to four. In six months he wants to be down to none.

Peck cites the studies by Dr. George Vaillant, a Harvard professor and researcher, as perhaps the best guide for aging well. In the world's longest continuing study of physical and mental health, Vaillant and his colleagues identified key factors that at age 50 most contribute to reaching 80. They are getting enough exercise, avoiding excess weight, not smoking heavily or abusing alcohol, being adaptable and maintaining a loving marriage.

Those who take those factors into consideration, Vaillant found, have greater odds of becoming what he calls "the happy well."

The happy well are those, he said, "who subjectively enjoy their lives and are objectively healthy." By contrast, the "sad sick" occupy another category. "The sad sick are people who feel and are sad and they feel and are sick," he said.

In other words, Peck said, healthy and graceful aging comes down to this: "You create your reality."