Recent research has consistently found a strong association between loneliness and accelerated or worse aging—whether or not you’re living with HIV. On the happier side, social connection appears to be strongly linked to optimal aging.
If that’s the case—as it well seems to be—then it appears that Janice Shirley, 61, of Charlotte, North Carolina, has vibrant years ahead of her. Drug-free since 2003 and diagnosed with HIV in 2006, Shirley not only attends daily 12-step meetings, where she has a circle of longtime friends, but she is also involved in countless local and national HIV initiatives. She’s cochair of her county’s Ryan White CARE Act advisory council, sits on NMAC’s National HIV/AIDS Advocacy Network, was a liaison for the Black AIDS Institute and has participated in Common Threads, a personal storytelling project for women living with HIV.
In other words, Shirley doesn’t have a lot of time to sit around moping because she’s constantly engaging with peers. “I hang out,” she says simply. “I like people. I didn’t always, but when I got clean, I saw that I needed to start trusting people.”…