Getting old can be a real bummer. Things start to hurt. You become slower. Gravity does a number on your posture. Wrinkles and aging spots show up. You pee yourself or, worse, can't pee at all. Your ability to recover from illness decreases. You lose flexibility. Muscle strength diminishes. Your knees buckle and your belt won't.
Go ahead. Just shoot me now.
But wait. Getting older isn't the end of the world. The problem is, once you accept the "fact" that you're going to get older, slower, weaker, fatter, and sicklier, something happens to you psychologically. You begin to accept this as gospel truth, and aging becomes your excuse for slowing down.
I've discovered at 73 that just because we are aging doesn't mean we can't still chase down big goals. I hope to be putzing along until the day I die. I fully intend to run until my body gives out on me. Exercise keeps you young(er) as you age. It can reduce the risk of heart disease and many other diseases. It can even boost memory. Yes, you'll still have to:
- Scale back your races and race distances
- Take more recovery days
- Continue to strength train
- Sleep longer
I'm going to work on getting smarter about my training. I love racing and my goal is to just always be able to do it. My advice is that it is really essential to study your body -- to know when something is a niggle that will go away pretty quickly, and when something is the first sign of something going badly wrong. Sometimes it's best to operate by feel. Some days feel like a long run. Other days feel like a walk day. You just need to be adaptable. At least at my age I have the means for massages twice a month. Just as importantly, I make sure to have time for my kids and grandkids so that we all feel connected, happy, and content. I won't stop living it up until my body falls apart and the massage therapist can't put it back together again like Humpty Dumpty.
At the end of the day, aging can be seen as a natural part of life filled with joy and genuine happiness. Quotes like "You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing" by George Bernard Shaw highlight the importance of maintaining a positive outlook on life as we age, an outlook based on on an unshakable confidence in our unchangeable God.
So ...
Celebrate the gift of getting older with gratitude (and a sense of humor). Embrace the process with grace. Live in the present, not in the past. There is no use trying to return to it. Live for the day. Above all, remember that "Those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young" (Benjamin Franklin).