In case you might think that growing old is merely an inevitable winding down, creaking of joints, and being awash with ailments, the following is a quote from the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849):

“From my sixth year onwards a peculiar mania for drawing all sorts of things took possession of me. At my fiftieth year I had published quite a number of works of every possible description, but none were to my satisfaction. Real work began with me only in my seventieth year. Now at seventy-five the real appreciation of nature awakens within me. I therefore hope that at eighty I may have arrived at a certain power of intuition which will develop further to my ninetieth year, so that at the age of a hundred I can probably assert that my intuition is thoroughly artistic. And should it be granted to me to live a hundred and ten years, I hope that a vital and true comprehension of nature may radiate from every one of my lines and dots. … I invite those who are going to live as long as I to convince themselves whether I shall keep my word. Written at the age of seventy-five years by me, formerly Hokusai, now called the Old Man Mad with Painting.”

Hokusai lived for eighty-nine years. As an apprentice, he was expelled from his apprenticeship for originality and returned to his family to live in poverty which continued through his long life. He supplemented his income by selling food and almanacs. It is said that when he died, he murmured, “If the gods had given me only ten years more, I could have become a really great painter.”

When he died, his neighbors who knew little about him, were surprised to see so long a funeral procession to honor him.

Hokusai is revered in Japan, but his most profound influence was on European art. It is said that without Hokusai, impressionism may never have appeared. (Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume 1)

It seems that the trick to growing old is to have a purpose worthwhile enough and sufficiently inspiring to drive one out of bed each and every morning.