Live long, and stay healthy

 I read this quote somewhere, but I am not sure where I read it, but it got me thinking. “Based on their own fears of becoming dependent, people approaching 65 expect everyone will go into a long slow decline of illness and decrepitude. That's just not what happens, instead, the vast majority of us remain vigorous until 85 or 90. Essentially you live very healthy for a long time and then sort of drop off quickly.”

I am surprised every time a younger person says to me that they admire how active I am. I guess I should not be because I realized that many young people believe what the quote says.  I do not have the energy that I once did, but I also realize that I don’t have to do things in the same amount of time. I have more time, therefore I can, with the luxury of time, complete all the things that I want to do.

When I was working, I would work and then go home and take care of family, and work needed to be done around the home, and then I would tackle the volunteer activities I wanted to do. I was always pressed for time. Weekends always seemed to be hectic, as we tried cramming everything, we wanted to do into a very compressed period.

When I retired it took me a while to realize that I had the luxury of time, and I had my health. With time I could accomplish everything I wanted to do, without feeling exhausted and worn out and without jeopardizing my health. I and most of the seniors I know, spend time looking after our health. Take a walk on any afternoon and you will see the majority of walkers are seniors (at least in my neck of the woods). Go to your local pool and most of the swimmers are seniors but there are a fair number of mothers with toddlers as well. My generation knows that if we want to age well, we have to work at looking after ourselves. I am in my mid-seventies, but I have many friends and acquaintances who are in their early eighties, and they are still active and healthy. If the quote is true, I have a few more years and I plan to use them to enrich my family, friends and my community.