Coming September 2024

In a world where many are granted an extended lease on life, how do we make the most of our elder years? Journey with two lifelong friends as they embark on a mission to unravel the mysteries of successful aging, as they approach elderhood themselves. Their discoveries become a beacon for anyone seeking purpose and fulfillment in later years. Delve into a jargon-free exploration of psychoanalysis, combined with the latest findings on aging, to bring elderhood into sharp focus. What are its challenges? And more importantly, what are the skills required to navigate them? Witness the inspirational life stories of 52 elders interviewed during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their tales serve as a testament to the unique trajectories that lead us to our golden years. Building upon Erik Erikson’s iconic human development model, the authors introduce a groundbreaking 9th stage of potential growth: Elder Identity Revision. Understand the tasks that await in elderhood and acquire the indispensable tools to face them head-on. With many of today’s elders experiencing up to 25 more years of life in good physical and cognitive condition than past generations, the urgency to lead a purposeful, impactful, and fulfilling elderhood has never been greater. Fueling this insightful journey is the authors’ unwavering belief that it’s never too late to evolve, to grow, and to make every moment count. Dive in and redefine what it means to age wisely. Along the way, discover how to contribute to the world around you and develop the skills required to successfully complete your one and only life cycle.

Releases September 10, 2024.   Available for pre-order now.

About the Project

As project leads Scott Fisher and Ben Green approached their 70th birthdays, they decided to team up to dig deeply into the challenges of healthy aging. Faced with the prospect of retirement, declining bodies, and the insistent reminders of mortality, they harnessed their combined eight decades of work experience with thousands of people to arrive at some fresh conclusions about aging wisely.

Currently, the publications that dominate this genre are authored by journalists, medical practitioners, and academic scientists, all of which fail to delve deeply into the developmental dynamics and the character structure of individual lives. Fisher and Green take a novel, more personalized approach grounded in their clinical training and deep experience in the field.

Utilizing a semi-structured interview format, they met with a diverse sample of 52 elders, aged 70–95. The life stories they heard were dazzling in their variety and depth. For example:

• One man is a world-renowned scholar while another has struggles with alcoholism and lifelong sexual confusion.
• One woman is a child Holocaust survivor; out of desperation at Auschwitz, she pretended that each of her fingers was a doll with its own personality.
• Another grew up near the Arctic Circle in a Soviet labor camp.

They intuitively identified patterns in their elder interview data and commissioned an outside statistical analysis of the 30 items measured for each elder that correlated very strongly with their subjective findings. As they sifted through the results, they realized that they had new information and new conclusions about aging wisely. Each stage of life, from infancy to old age, has singular development challenges to accomplish, and the final stage of life is no exception.

In The Aging Wisely Project, Green and Fisher weave their own personal experiences with those of their 52 interviewees, explain some psychoanalytic concepts in an easy-to-digest way, and offer evidence-based recommendations for optimal living and growing in elderhood.

As members of the Baby Boomer Generation continue to age, they all have the opportunity to reflect upon and bring added meaning and coherence to their lives. The Aging Wisely Project is for the Boomers, their children, and anyone interested in navigating the later stages of life with wisdom and grace.

Ben and Scott invite you to join us on this website and soon-to-be blog as they share and explore elements that can help us succeed in old age. They envision building a community of people interested and committed to spreading the ideas of The Aging Wisely Project.

Endorsements

With The Aging Wisely Project, Ben and Scott have marvelously combined storytelling with an entirely new construct for how we can each become our best selves. Indeed, the two of them have created their own profound late-in-life stories. Read on. Let their wisdom add to yours.

Stephen Blum
Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives
Yale Alumni Association, Yale University

Green and Fisher have written a unique work on aging. The interviews of fifty-two elders, age seventy to ninety-six, form the soul of The Aging Wisely Project, illustrating vividly the concepts that the authors put forth. They are grounded in the theories of psychoanalysis, attachment, and human development. The authors provide us an evidence-based set of principles to guide us through this final, crucial stage of life.

Roy S. Lowenstein, M.D.
Psychoanalyst and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
University of Colorado School of Medicine

*

The Aging Wisely Project is a marvelous book for those who find themselves, well, AGING. I recognize myself in many of the case studies. Ben and Scott clearly describe solid research findings so they are easily understandable, and this book is essential reading for anyone grappling with advancing years.

Rob Socolofsky
Retired Administrative Law Judge, State of Colorado
Current Bassist, Luthier, Poet, and Brewmeister

*

Whether we want or need direction, course correction, or confirmation about the later stages of our lives, The Aging Wisely Project provides an understandable, meaningful, and achievable path to live our best elder life. By analyzing poignant life stories juxtaposed with clearly delineated tasks of elderhood, the authors help us GRASP (Gratitude, Resilience, Active Practices, Self-acceptance, Purpose) intentional behaviors and attitudes that should enhance happiness and satisfaction in our final years. This is an important read on an often-ignored subject matter. Here’s hoping you benefit from it as much as I did.

Andrew L. Braun, MBA

*

Dr. Ben Green and Scott Fisher take on the topic of aging in their new book, The Aging Wisely Project. In an increasingly greying population culturally reluctant to talk about getting old and dying, their thoughtful examination of the subject offers wisdom from a developmental, attachment, and neurocognitive point of view. Each chapter is carefully crafted to discuss a different psychological aspect of aging and offers solutions to curious readers who seek advice and a more profound understanding to enrich and cherish the meaning of this final stage of life.

Larry Mortazavi, M.D., CGP
President of Denver Psychoanalytic Society

Why do some people grow old so well while others struggle? The Aging Wisely Project is a practical, smart guide for the person who wants to be intentional about growing older and setting the course to live life fully at every stage. I couldn’t put it down!

Sharyl Johnson Harston 
Retired Executive, Co-Founder of Adventures in Boomerland, and Persistent Student of “Good Living”

*

The Aging Wisely Project incorporates contemporary developmental and relational research to augment and enrich concepts originally introduced by psychoanalyst Erik Erikson regarding psychological development throughout the lifespan. This scholarly work, particularly the focus on Elder Identity Revision, provides a valuable framework for clinical work, for students of human development, and for all of us interested in enriching our own developmental trajectories.

Esther Lowenstein, Psy.D. 
Psychologist / Psychoanalyst
Faculty, The Denver Institute for Psychoanalysis

*

Forget the gold watch for the about-to-be-retired. Instead, give them The Aging Wisely Project by Ben Green and Scott Fisher to help them plan and live a happy, fruitful elderhood. And get one for yourself. The book features extensive interviews with fifty-two retirees and analyzes their successes and failures as they plan for their last years. Well-balanced between individual life stories and academic analyses, Ben and Scott have crafted a beautifully detailed path to successful aging.

Carol Tierney 

*

The Aging Wisely Project is a compendium of powerful and revealing life stories of fifty-two elders that serve as a life-guide for better understanding and appreciating the many challenges and opportunities for living a meaningful and fulfilling life. The authors’ research has resulted in the suggestion of a final stage (labeled Elder Identity Revision) to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development model to better explain their elderhood findings and conclusions. And finally, their book is enhanced by the authors’ own humorous observations and wisdom from years of personal and professional experiences. Reading this book has provided a persuasive and actionable guide for my own pursuit and appreciation of the meaningful journey ahead!

James W. Spensley
Environmental Lawyer, Mediator, Adjunct Professor
University of Denver, Daniels College of Business and Sturm Law School

Ben Green and Scott Fisher have written a very informative and stimulating book outlining the important elements, both past and present, that will shape one’s quality of life during the elderly period. They interviewed fifty-two elderly individuals, reviewed extensive developmental and clinical research on children and adults, identified the important factors contributing to either positive or negative life experiences and to the meaningfulness of relationships, and describe in detail what one can do to make one’s last phases of life both meaningful and gratifying. The Aging Wisely Project is a wonderful resource for those who are entering these years.

Theodore Gaensbauer, M.D.
Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry
University of Colorado School of Medicine

*

The Aging Wisely Project is well researched, insightful, and encouraging. The humanity of the stories told evoked in the authors “a tremendous amount of respect, even awe, for what each of us goes through to forge a personal identity and a meaningful life.” This kind of regard for the aging processes easily paves the way for Green and Fisher to be our mentors for aging, to propose new possibilities, going forward. 

Joan Heron, LCSW
Psychoanalyst, Boulder, Colorado

*

This book is engaging and informative. The interviews were the “glue” to understanding and navigating the aging process. The authors interconnected life and choices made into what can be expected in later life. All of us are affected by parents, childhood, and youth but an adaptive mindset and resilience can pave the way to a satisfying and productive adulthood and old age. The authors effectively combined real life stories with science. The Aging Wisely Project is a fascinating read.

Carmen Ashbaugh
Retired Mortgage Lender

*

The Aging Wisely Project is a tour de force, delving into the process and tasks of aging with great breadth and depth. The intimate descriptions of the lives of fifty-two elders left me feeling inspired and empowered to make the most of the last quarter of my life. This book is just packed full of wisdom!

David Nichol, M.D.

Psychoanalyst and Author of The One-Minute Meditator

This systematic exploration and these powerful insights on aging wisely (‘geezerhood’) are interesting, helpful, and will be useful to more and more of our growing population. With The Aging Wisely Project, the authors have managed a heavy subject with a light touch that is well written and clearly described. 

Rosanne Henry
Licensed Professional Counselor

*

Amongst the growing number of aging well books, The Aging Wisely Project is singular in how it weaves together psychological theory and personal anecdote. We’re left with a sense of hope about growing old—provided we’re ready to commit to continual learning and an adaptive attitude.

Cory Hines
Creative Adapter and Director,
Mount Washington (Massachusetts) Council on Aging

*

This is a deep and much-needed exploration of elder identity: just who are we in this stage of life? The powerful psychological analysis of elderhood is illustrated with compelling stories of a diverse group of elders, as well as with invaluable practical strategies for aging well. The Aging Wisely Project will soon become an iconic guide to enhancing our essential humanity in elderhood. 

Ron Roel, VoiceAmerica
Host of 45 Forward and Author of Caregiving Navigator

Frankly, I could not put The Aging Wisely Project down. I find it a true blueprint for aging wisely.

Judy Whitbeck
Mt. Washington, Massachusetts

*

This thought-provoking and positive book focuses on what is important in having a full life in elderhood. These two experienced interviewers stress that there is a continual reworking of developmental challenges throughout life. They describe the difficulties of maintaining a positive personal identity that is consolidated and coherent, but also adaptive, in spite of numerous losses and changing circumstances. There is a particular emphasis on strengthening intimate relationships and social networks, and they offer advice about resilience, gratitude, personal growth, and self-esteem. The Aging Wisely Project is useful for those of us facing the challenge of a long life.

Mary Ann Levy, M.D.  
Psychoanalyst, Clinical Professor or Psychiatry
University of Colorado School of Medicine

*

Clear and comprehensive! A wonderfully unique, helpful, and insightful guide to rethinking the path of elder age in our present times.

Susie Carol
Elder Artist and Dabbling Musician

*

The Aging Wisely Project is insightful, engaging, and full of concrete advice for people of all ages. The portraits of interviewed elders are fascinating—both in the life stories rendered and how the authors notice what goes unsaid. Their astute observations show how deeply the stories we tell ourselves shape our lives. This book is a thought-provoking and inspiring companion for all who seek to age wisely.

Lucy Marcus
Faculty, Borough of Manhattan Community College

About the Researchers

Lifelong friends Scott Fisher and Ben Green met a half-century ago as roommates at Yale College. They have both spent their lives helping individuals and organizations thrive, both personally and professionally.