Sampler Review ~ Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke

Keep Moving And Other Tips and Truths about Aging by Dick Van Dyke
SAMPLE of book Completed 05/15/15
5 of 5 stars
256 page book
Expected Publication ~ 10/13/15

I received this SAMPLER from NetGalley for my honest review.


Typically, I wouldn't jump at a chance for any kind of Sampler, it's just a tease and I don't like that, BUT I didn't know that Dick Van Dyke was putting out another autobiography and I had to get it, even if it was just a sampler. Now granted, I don't think I'm "old" (though in my late 30s I'm sure some would consider me such) and really wouldn't ever read a typical "aging" type book, but this is Dick Van Dyke, the most active and youthful almost 90 year old probably on the planet. :)

I adore Van Dyke though unlike some of his older fans who may have followed him from his Dick Van Dyke show, or perhaps some Disney fans may like him from Mary Poppins, I became a fan during a later time, when I watched Diagnosis Murder. I loved that show and in turn, I became enamored with Van Dyke. He was 65 years old at the time and the show ran for 10 years. I listened to his first autobiography and it was fantastic, so I knew I had to get this one as well, despite me not really being ready for the aging bit.

But that's the thing. In Keep Moving, neither is he. There are two major points in the sampler that I completely and utterly agree with, and I don't understand why it is that more people don't feel the same way.

The first is ~ you don't have to act your age. This rings so true for me, because I've NEVER acted my age. I'm not sure why this is, since I had to grow up REALLY fast (taking care of an accident prone birth mother who spent my childhood mostly in a wheelchair will do that). I think that at some point, I just started going backwards in how I feel and act. That's not to say I'm not mature, I am, and I can be, but I also like to have FUN when I'm able. Before we moved to NC 3 years ago, I spent most of the 90s and the 00s running around WDW. I've been to the parks more than a thousand times and there was nothing better than experiencing the parks through the eyes of people going the first time, which I was fortunate to do quite a few times. Theme parks and amusement parks really bring out the kid in me, and I miss them, tons and tons. But on a daily basis now, I'm still a kid at heart. I color. I watch iCarly, Girl Meets World and Looney Tunes. I play video games. I laugh and sing (even though I can't do it well) and dance around (which I'm even worse at) because life SUCKS and if I don't laugh, then I cry. If I don't act crazy then I curl in a ball and mope. Too many people have sticks stuck up their asses and take things WAYYYYYY too seriously, especially themselves. I wish everyone could take a page from Van Dyke's book, literally, and not think they are getting "old". In his book he says :

"... you don't have to act your age. You don't have to even feel it. And if it does attempt to elbow its way into your life, you do not have to pay attention to it. If I am out shopping and hear music playing in a store, I start to dance. If I want to sing, I sing. I read books and get excited about new ideas. I enjoy myself. I don't think about the way I am supposed to act at my age - or at any age. As far as I know, there is no manual for old age. There is no test you have to pass. There is no way you have to behave."


The second is ~ people worry WAYYYYYY too much, especially about things they can not control. As Van Dyke says ~ "What's the point?" I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a few friends to stop worrying and fretting over every little thing. I've never been much for worrying and I never will. I don't get the point of it. Worrying changes NOTHING. Nothing at all, except for adding stress to your life. Again I agree with a passage in the book :

"I don't see the point of worrying. It is a waste of time. Things either work out or they don't and if they don't, you have to figure out something else, a plan B. There's nothing wrong with plan B. Most of life is a plan B. Or plan C. Or plans L, M, N, O, P.

No, here is the truth. Your teens and twenties are your plan A. At fifty, you're assessing whether plan B or plan C or any of the other plans you hatched worked. Your sixties and seventies are an improvisation; there is no blueprint, and quite honestly, you spend a lot of time feeling grateful that you have dodged the bullets that got others. If you make it past then, as I have, you discover a truth and joy you wish you had known earlier: there is no plan.

You relax. You exhale. You quit worrying."

I discovered long ago that there's no reason to worry about anything. Things are going to happen no matter what. I have friends who worry who have good lives. I have friends who worry who have gone through crap. Worrying didn't change anything but add more stress. On the other hand, I've not worried about anything and let's just say life is crap for me. Would worrying have changed things? Nope, and they can't change anything now. So, while life isn't rosy, it is at least stress and worry free, as it should be for everyone!


Sorry for my ramblings. It's just so funny how so completely I agree with Van Dyke on some things, I always knew I would love him as a person. He's amazing and I hope that I have half of his energy when I reach HALF of his age! I highly recommend this book, when it's released, along with his first biography ~ "My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business". I'll return with more thoughts on this one, when I receive the full version from NetGalley.

I leave you with the last part of Van Dyke's sampler, words to think on :

"I suppose that answers the question I posted earlier: How do you know when you're old? You don't - and you don't have to. It's more important to keep on feeling what it feels like to be young."