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Every once in a while, a book
comes along that will change
society for the better. This
year it is Peter Carvell's Silver
Wolf, written for the millions
of people now in their fifties,
suggesting that they create
a Grand Plan for the Third Act
of their life. Get it right,
says the author, and this will
bring you greater happiness
than you've ever enjoyed before.
Your Third Act of some 20 years,
says Carvell, is the time when
you dust down your old dreams
and ambitions, sort out your
future finances, and take charge
of your life. You create a new
balance in your life of part
work, part learning and part
play, and plan a journey into
you seventies that is nothing
like the one your parents usually
had.
According to Silver Wolf, everything
is going your way. You will
live at least into your late
seventies, and probably eighties.
You benefit from the incredible
advance in medical knowledge
health, which will make these
mainly quality years. This October's
Age Discrimination Act will
make it easier for everyone
to continue working, both full
and part-time.
On top of that, our parents'
ideas about getting older are
now known to be totally wrong.
Your mind will not inevitably
decay, your body will not collapse.
You are more capable of learning,
working and creating than you
were, when you worked 40-50
hour weeks for years to pay
the mortgage.
Work, says Carvell, should be
part of your Third Act. Without
some work, play becomes work,
and we need to be part of a
work environment. Work helps
us live longer, be fitter and
feel better about ourselves.
It also brings in more money,
which, the author points out,
most of us are going to need
to cover those extra years!
The publication of Silver Wolf
could not have come at a better
time. It will change the way
we live, and the way we think
about getting older. Those who
prepare for a new Third Act
will give themselves twenty
more years of real living.
These years are when you dismiss
the false myths of ageism, do
what you always wanted to do,
and finally achieve your dreams.
To do this, Peter Carvell argues
that you need to create a Grand
Plan, unique to you. This Grand
Plan may be about fulfilling
dreams, but it is essentially
a short, practical set of pages,
which lay out the life that
you want. You need to be totally
honest with yourself, because
the whole point of this exercise
is your future happiness.
The message of Peter Carvell's
Silver Wolf can be summed up
as this. Never retire completely
from work, make a Grand Plan
for your new Third Act, keep
fit, make a better balance of
your life with work, learning
and play, get your priorities
right, and become a Silver Wolf.
And, by the way, he says that
you may also need to have more
sex!
How you do all this is easily
explained in Peter Carvell's
immensely enjoyable and revolutionary
book. Silver Wolf is an easy-to-read,
aspirational but practical book,
which could change the attitudes
of millions, as much as the
changes of the Sixties.
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