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“Me? Pursue a new career mid-life? That’s what young people do.”
“There’ll be nothing for me to do if I move to a retirement community.”
“Now that I’m older, I’ll have nothing but one health issue after another.”
As people age, it’s normal to have a range of thoughts about what lies ahead in life. Sometimes, these thoughts about aging are steeped in negative, stereotypical beliefs. Some hold tight to “all older people should do or can’t do” ideas, while others put such notions by the wayside.
Why Aging Stereotypes Exist
“In reality, we develop expectations about what our later years will be like long before we’re even old enough to count in double digits,” says clinical psychologist Daniel Glazer. He is the co-founder of several health technology platforms, including U.S. Therapy Rooms. “The early messages that we absorb as children—stories, images, and assumptions about later life that are communicated to us through media, family conversations, and everyday social cues—serve to set a template for what we envision for the future.”
Glazer explains that early on in life, people develop “expectations about how we’ll look, how we’ll live and what we’ll still be able to do.” He says that our brains essentially take note of these impressions, which provides people with “psychological predictability about what lies ahead.”
Here are some commonly held aging stereotypes along with expert insight.
Debunking Common Aging Stereotypes
1. Aging means I need to be more conservative with fashion and appearance.
Lori Bohn, a Board-Certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and Medical Director at Voyager Recovery Center, says that when it comes to appearance and body changes, “many people assume aging means becoming invisible or giving up on style.” She says she hears clients say they expect to “dress their age” in a restrictive or muted way, “as if self-expression has an expiration date.”
When people do age, she says that several end up feeling freer to experiment. “They’re less concerned with outside approval,” Bohn says. “That lived experience can be surprisingly empowering; it often dismantles the belief that aging automatically equals diminished vitality or attractiveness.”
2. Life at a retirement community will be boring.
Melina Alden, a licensed psychotherapist in Los Angeles, says that this is a common thought. “Few aging stereotypes provoke as much resistance as the idea of moving into a retirement or senior living community,” she says. “Many imagine isolation, loss of autonomy, institutional environments, and social stagnation.”
She adds that people who do end up making such a move often experience the opposite of what they anticipated. “Instead of shrinking life, these communities frequently expand it through built-in social connection, reduced responsibility for home maintenance, access to activities or shared interests, and increased safety or peace of mind,” Alden says.
Jennifer Bullock, executive director of Mease Life, a continuing care retirement community in Dunedin, Florida, is familiar with the initial hesitations an older person may feel about moving. “Some people think, ‘I’m not ready’ or ‘I’m not sick enough’ or ‘I’m not old enough,’” Bullock says. But once they move, she says she’s observed the very social connections and peace of mind that Alden refers to. “Everyone I follow up with says that they wish they would have moved sooner,” Bullock adds, noting that residents have expressed thorough enjoyment of the community’s multitude of activities, events, games, and classes.
Case in point: Diane Solomon is a highly active resident at Mease Life, an Acts Retirement-Life Community. “There are so many great things about this place,” says Solomon, who grew up in New York City’s Upper West Side. “I love talking to people I meet and learning about their diverse life experiences,” she says of the variety of geographic and professional backgrounds of the other residents at the Dunedin community. Additionally, she explains that there is a lot to do, from musical performances and intellectual events to outings and a dining experience that is “more like a restaurant.” Solomon, who has lived there since June 2024, is also a resident advocate, frequently interacting with state professionals, other residents, and staff.
3. I’m too old to start a business or build my finances.
“Financial and personal success is another area where stereotypes loom large,” says Bohn. “Some assume that after a certain age, growth stops, that career changes, entrepreneurship, or personal reinvention are unrealistic. But I’ve worked with many individuals who start businesses, pursue new degrees, or redefine their goals in their 50s, 60s, and beyond. When they succeed, it challenges the internalized belief that ambition has a shelf life, and it often expands their sense of possibility.”
Fred Klein, for example, knows about starting a business later in life; he co-founded Gotham City Networking at 55, with the mantra, “It’s better to give than receive, but what goes around, comes around.”
4. I’m going to have a slew of health problems.
Alden says that health anxiety is one of the most persistent fears associated with aging. Some common health thoughts older people may adopt, according to Alden, include:
- Chronic illness will dominate daily life.
- Physical limitations will define identity.
- Progressive loss of functioning will occur.
“Health challenges do become statistically more common with age,” she says. “But individuals frequently discover a more nuanced reality.” She explains that older adults tend to report having a heightened awareness about health that leads to sustainable exercise routines and practices that help reduce stress-related illness.
A Psychology Today article refers to aging as a natural process and one that “does not have to coincide with declining health.” The importance of simultaneously honoring our changing bodies and doing things to help prevent ailments is essential. Rather than viewing aging as synonymous with being inactive and unhealthy, it’s a time to know that while there may be some obstacles, it shouldn’t put older people in a sedentary surrender to life mode.
“I think people hold tightly to aging stereotypes because they provide a sense of predictability. If we believe we know what aging looks like, it gives us an illusion of control over something that is inherently uncertain,” says Bohn. “Stereotypes also protect us psychologically; if we assume decline is inevitable, we can mentally ‘prepare’ for disappointment. Letting go of those beliefs requires confronting ambiguity and reimagining our own future, which can feel vulnerable.”
Pushing Through Aging Stereotypes
Bohn says that people who successfully move past aging stereotypes:
- Tend to have more flexible thinking styles
- Enjoy broader social exposures
- Often surround themselves by peers or role models who are aging in diverse and dynamic ways
- May have a stronger internal locus of control, believing their choices meaningfully shape their outcomes
These thinking styles and mindsets “make them more likely to test assumptions rather than passively accept them,” Bohn says.
“When people realize their experience doesn’t match their prior fears, there’s often a cognitive and emotional recalibration,” she says. “Psychologically, this is a form of belief revision; their schema about aging expands to accommodate new evidence. Emotionally, it can bring relief, pride, and even grief for the years spent worrying unnecessarily.”
Of this psychological shift, Glazer adds that it occurs when our expectations about aging are disconfirmed by lived experience. “The brain updates its internal forecast about later life, which makes us less afraid and more open to what it might bring,” he says. “Even if we once thought our world would shrink, it instead seems to be expanding with new passions, friendships, and accomplishments. Rewriting the story on aging can absolutely change the way people feel about growing older.”
