Chapter 9: Your Ninth Decade & Beyond
Write Your Life Story for Posterity - Ages 80 and up
This is the ninth newsletter in the A Journey of a Thousand Miles… series.
By Maureen Santini © Copyright 2017-2025. All Rights Reserved.
The good news is that many people are living longer. The number of people 100 and older worldwide is estimated at 722,000 and may quadruple in the next decades, according to the United Nations.
My daily Facebook feed contains dozens of photos of people celebrating 100th birthdays and beyond. They proudly pose with delicious looking cakes.
Super-agers are still a bit rare. But people over 80 are not.
"Does life begin at eighty?" That was the headline of a Daily Mail article a few years ago. The bottom line: physical and mental decline may not be inevitable.
In the past decade, due to medical advances, fewer seniors live in nursing homes and assisted living, according to National Health and Aging Trends.
“If you take a room full of 80-year-olds, 15 percent are frail and vulnerable,” Jeremy Walston, head of Johns Hopkins’ Human Aging Project, told Dome magazine.
“Sixty percent have some health problems that are slowing them down. The rest are robust and active,” he said.
“The stereotypes that people have in their minds about old age are just completely wrong,” says Katharine Esty, Ph.D., the eighty-something author of: A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness.
Your ninth decade begins at your 80th birthday. If you were born in 1940, for example, your ninth decade began in 2020.
Your tenth decade begins at your 90th birthday. If you were born in 1930 your tenth decade began in 2020.
Your eleventh decade begins at your 100th birthday. Congratulations! If you were born in 1920, your eleventh decade began in 2020.
At this point, there is no need to wait until the end of a decade to write about it. If you are 82 today, for instance, write now about your ninth decade so far and update every year or so.
Everyone 80 and older should use the prompts in this newsletter to write about their ninth decade (ages 80 through 89), tenth decade (ages 90 through 99,) and eleventh decade (ages 100 through 109) etc.
Basic Information
Begin by recording basic information in the categories below. In addition, write about anything that was important to you during this time – people, places, events, ideas, politics, feelings, beliefs, lessons learned, and changes in your life, your community, and in the world.
If relevant, contrast the categories above with your situation and beliefs in earlier decades. You may find that lifestyles, beliefs, activities, health, outlook, and relationships change from decade to decade, often drastically.
List the addresses of the places you lived during these years — street, town, county, state, country. Mention if you have moved since the last decade and if so, why. If you have remained in the same locality for many decades, explain what the area means to you.
Add the names of others in your household and their relationships to you.
Note the people and places you visited frequently, such as friends, relatives, churches, restaurants, and parks. Mention favorite activities in these places.
Friends and Family
Describe the main relationships in your life during these years. Identify friends and family members you spent the most time with and the activities you engaged in most often. If these are similar to the people you've mentioned in previous decades, describe how your relationship or activities evolved.
Hobbies, Skills, Interests
Describe your lifestyle, including the way you typically spent days and evenings.
List your top three or four hobbies and interests, such as walking, reading, exercising, games, socializing, dancing, travel, crafts, television, and sports.
Explain how your routine changed in your eighties and/or nineties, if it did, such as whether you started new activities or dropped old activities.
Describe your feelings about the high points, low points, and turning points of the decade.
Write about the most surprising life lessons you've learned and how they affected you.
Health and Welfare
Physical, mental, and emotional challenges can take a toll. If relevant, detail ways in which you personally faced such challenges or helped close friends and family members do the same.
To leave behind a factual account of your life and times, tell your story regardless of whether it fits any specific frame. Explain your feelings about aging and your lifestyle. For the record:
List the names of your medical professionals.
Specify dates and places of major medical events, such as operations.
Describe the overall state of your health.
Assess total health — mind, body, and spirit — during the decade.
Current Events
Describe the political and social environment of these years and your positions on issues. Recount whether unforeseen events, such as epidemics, floods, fires, terrorism, wars, or riots, affected you and your family.
Explain the ways in which your opinions and beliefs evolved or stayed the same throughout the decade. Identify the causes and organizations that most represented your beliefs and passions.
Conclusion
Add information about any person, place, event, or idea that was significant during this time. Explain why.
Congratulations on getting this far! You are nearing the finish line.
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Two chapters remain. Chapter 10: Family History will be published on Sunday. Summary will be published five days later.
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Maureen Santini is a writer, researcher, and former journalist whose goal is to prevent the knowledge and life stories of millions from ending up in the trash can of history.
Tell me how it’s going so far. Reply below or email me directly at maureensantini@substack.com. I welcome all comments and suggestions.
For those who find value in this process, consider endorsing the decade-by-decade method and restacking below to encourage others to write their stories.