I think there are different things depending on ones age that have their own priorities. In my 50's I didn't really think about it very much. The same for the start of 60, it wasn't until the last three years of my 60's that I started to have medical problems kick in. First, there was Prostate Cancer, followed closely by cataracts (both eyes), then couple kidney stones requiring surgery and the second on got infected and cause a bout of sepsis. Then I had started to have a problem walking caused by stenosis in a couple of spinal areas in the lumbar region of my back controlled somewhat by chiropractic help and exercise. That carried through until I was 70 and all of a sudden I needed a pacemaker. That was followed within a year with another stenosis, this time in my neck that put me almost in a permanent wheelchair caused my hands to feel constantly numb (great feeling) and had a Cervical spine fusion in my neck. That was done last August. What that means is I have been basically recovering from things since that date.
So I went from having no aging problems and feeling like I always did to what was, at one point, practically unable to walk without assistance and even then it was a shuffle. So everything I thought of as aging gracefully was tossed out the window. Now my primary occupation is relearning how to walk normally getting treatments to my back on a weekly basis and generally just trying to remain as active as possible and setting goals for recovery. I have made a lot of progress in that area and have decided that as long as I can do it, I am going to continue to push myself and set goals for travel and mental exercise. Posting on these discussion boards are one of those exercises in mental awareness and maintaining my independence and self care.
That's as aging gracefully as I can get. The what I look like ship sailed a long time ago. Now I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how I got those bruises on my arms. Aging is a real adventure. I even went back to the golf course for a few holes just to ease myself back into things. My current large goal is to be able to drive back up to Vermont this summer to visit friends and relatives. I have still been driving through most of this but it's not the driving it's the trying to walk after I've sat in a car for a couple of hours. Fun, fun and more fun.
One of the fortunate things that did happen was from the very first mind boggler. On my 67th birthday I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. They felt it was the slow growing kind so I opted to monitor the situation and if the problem got to the right point that surgery or some option was advisable I would do it then. In just a couple months I will be 75 and it hasn't grown enough for anyone to care about it, so, as the medical profession says so eloquently, "the chances are that you will die of something else long before this gets to be a problem" so I've got that going for me.
I can tell you this, I will not go gentle into that good night!