When you’re 20, everyone has an answer.
When you’re 3 times that, no one has the vaguest idea.
~~~
Generally speaking, life is like a TV show.
You start out with a murder, followed by an investigation, followed by a conclusion, where the bad guy is caught and justice is served.
For our purposes here, let’s focus our attention on the investigation, where we try and figure out which direction to turn in the absence of solid leads.
If you’re in that 55-64 demographic, you know exactly what I mean.
It’s a weird place [think Devil’s Crossroads] where the pavement hits the dirt and you’re on your own.
Every decision feels like a skate over thin ice because everything matters 10 times more than it did when youth was like a high-density shock absorber.
EXAMPLES
1] You can eat this, but probably not that.
2] You can exercise, but not so hard that you stroke out.
3] You may need a mini-aspirin every day for life insurance, but it may also give you bleeding ulcers.
4] You should probably take mountains of vitamins, but nobody has any idea whether or not it’s necessary with a disciplined diet.
But what constitutes a ‘disciplined diet’ when your body is constantly under assault from everything that came before?
~~~
When I have a physical, the doctor tells me I’m fine.
What he doesn’t tell me is that I am fine for my age.
He may intimate that my blood work looks like that of someone half my age, but this doesn’t give me license to act like it.
TRANSLATION: “Keep doing what you’re doing, and be happy you’re not facing hip and shoulder replacements, herniated discs or arthritis like most people your age…”
That’s a tough pill to swallow, but everything’s relative.
Almost everything I do I not supposed to be doing, but because it hasn’t killed me, I keep doing it.
With this in mind, here are 3 life tenets I live by.
They’ve helped guide me through thick and thin and I’m still here to tell the tale:
1] “To Thine Own Self Be True…”
Yea, Shakespeare got it right.
So did Aristotle…“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing.”
The first thing I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that burying things you feel strongly about is toxic.
You have to believe in yourself and be willing to place yourself in the line of fire for your convictions.
If no one ever did this, there would be little great art, music or literature, to name just three.
Life is not a popularity contest. It’s about standing for something, and not abandoning it when the blow-back begins.
This is what tests the meddle of a person’s life.
It elicits respect from all people who know that taking strong positions on anything is tough, particularly as a species that seeks safety and security above all else.
Tough decisions are the bane of every winner.
2] Athletics are not just for the young.
You think you’re too old to throw a Frisbee, swim 1000 yards in a pool, or perform a box jump?
If so, you probably are.
For everyone else, it’s open season.
Just because you’re no longer 20 doesn’t mean you can’t workout, and, in many cases, dust people half your age.
Life does not come with a manual that tell us what we can and can’t do at certain stages of life.
We do.
Going back to #1, if you don’t have the fire in your belly to take a stand for yourself, life will stand on top of you.
Take what your body will give you, and when it won’t give another inch, find another approach to the same challenge.
There are always work-a rounds.
If one joint is inflamed, find another way to perform an exercise that doesn’t hurt so that it can recover.
This is all academic. But so many older guys I know throw up the white flag.
The moment they do this, life takes twice its toll over the same course of time.
That’s also academic.
You get back what you put in.
3] Be good to the people close to you.
The people who stand by you are the ones you owe your life to.
They deserve your support and your love.
Going back to what I said about human beings seeking safety and security, just know that the entire world can be against you and those closest are enough to withstand the fire.
All we really need in life are people we can count on, who love us, and who have our backs when things get really tough.
Nurture those relationships and you’ll never lose a dime to nature even if it kills you.
~~~
I’ll leave you with this:
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-let-go-of-the-need-for-approval-to-start-thriving/