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AARP's 'Love After 50' Chapter One

Author Francine Russo shares how to find — and keep — nurturing, intimate relationships

 

 

With age comes more emotional stability, so it’s not surprising that after 50, love can be more satisfying, according to author Francine Russo, whose newest book, AARP's Love After 50: How to Find It, Enjoy It, and Keep It, highlights the myriad ways we can find love, closeness and connection. Here we share the first chapter, “Do the Headwork,” which helps you take stock of where you are in your life and use that to your advantage.

Start reading below, then download an easy-to-read PDF version of the entire chapter.


 

Chapter One

Do the Headwork

 

Over fifty? You’re in luck. You’ve heard the stories or seen the couples all around you. People who seem far less likely than you have found love. My fifty-five-year-old girlfriend just got married, and she hadn’t had a date in ten years. My sixty-six-year-old aunt just moved in with a guy she’s crazy about. My eighty-year-old uncle, who’s been single forever, is madly in love!

Now is your time to find the love you’ve always wanted. If you’ve had unfulfilling relationships so far, you’re now poised to find a deeply satisfying one. If you were happily married, you may find an equally wonderful partnership, different but in some ways even better. For some, this will be easy. Others will have to work harder.

Even if this does not come easily to you, your age is an advantage. Look at the facts.

In study after study, Stanford’s Laura Carstensen and her colleagues have shown that people your age are more emotionally stable than younger people. You focus more on the positive; you steer away from stress and conflict when you can; you invest your energies in the people and things that mean most to you. These changes set you up for a richly rewarding love. Carstensen reckons there’s no better stage of life for finding it...

AARP Presents a Conversation With Francine Russo

The acclaimed author and journalist answered questions about AARP's Love After 50 in an event hosted on the AARP Virtual Community Center. AARP members can watch a recording of the conversation here.


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