Aging can be Amazing

No one really talks about the good parts of aging that often. I wish they would. The views we hold about ourselves at any given moment influence our daily decision-making, which ultimately affects how we will feel in the future. It’s no secret that on the cellular level, physiological functions naturally decline as we age, but we can do a hell of a lot to slow that process with our actions and thoughts. We have a lot of authority on what our aging process will look like. Our choices stem from our belief systems around aging. We are all getting older with every passing second and that is a beautiful thing…if we view it that way. And if we do, we may very well begin to take great care in each decision we make so as to remain able-mind and bodied into our older years.

For me, the best part about aging is the process of getting to know myself better and better. I wish I knew what I do now at age 19 about how to take care of my body and mind. That said, aging is about learning and applying those learnings in order to enjoy life to the fullest. You can learn how to become mentally resilient and positive. You can learn how to strengthen your body so that it’s stronger than ever before. You can learn when to push and when to pull back if you listen to what your body is telling you and then act according to what it needs. And if you practice being quiet and listening, you will only continue to strengthen your relationship with yourself. The only one that is going to either enjoy aging or resent it.

A perspective that’s helped me is seeing and treating myself as a friend of mine. Someone who’s company I like to keep and someone who I would look out for and give good advice to. It certainly feels better to be on my own team rather than being too hard on myself. Sometimes I get ahead of myself, like I should be someone or somewhere I’m not. That’s when I need to hit pause and just be 100% cool with who I am and where I am in this very moment. It helps me to look back on how far I’ve come and celebrate the wisdom I’ve gained over the last 30 years.

When I think about humanity in general, I think it’s been shown time and again that we aren’t great at acting in the present to ensure a healthy and happy future. But this is exactly what we need to be doing in order to have an enjoyable life into our older years, as well as for the future generations. This future includes our own personal health but also that of the Earth’s since the relationship between humanity and the environment is symbiotic.

There is no arriving at a final destination. It’s a process of constantly becoming wiser and more compassionate toward yourself. The key to a healthy life is education. As citizens of planet Earth, it’s time we take responsibility for learning about the requirements that keep ourselves healthy as well as our world because they affect each other equally.

I also wanted to include a perspective about aging from someone I know who has lived three quarters of a century on this earth. Charles agreed to let me interview him and just as I suspected, he had some wisdom bombs to drop.

Please enjoy the full conversation here:

He maintains that his top 3 pros about getting older are:

1. “I find it much easier to live one day at a time. Because I have much more of my life behind me than ahead of me, I’m not constantly saving for the future, worrying about whether I’m getting that promotion at work, or thinking about security. At 75 I know that security is an illusion. What comes, comes. As it says in the Gospel of Matthew, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow, for the morrow will be anxious for itself.””

2. “Learning is no longer goal-directed. I workout because it leaves me feeling better, not because I have a specific goal. I’ve taken classes in recent years just because I enjoy the challenge of learning new things, even if, or perhaps because, it can be hard. I love an argument, but I’ve found that if the other person is invested in the outcome, I concede. Losing doesn’t hurt when all I want to do is learn. It isn’t that I’m not competitive. I still like games, but if I lose today, maybe I’ll win tomorrow. If my team loses, I’m not even a little tempted to go downtown and join the mob breaking windows.”

3. “I find it much easier to make friends. I don’t have to put on a facade. I can just be myself. I don’t have any purpose except to enjoy and bring joy. I’m a happy guy, and it’s mostly because of the people in my life. Lucky me!”

Being a scholarly person and a life-long learner, Charles also shared some books that he recommends everyone should read that helped him continue to better himself. Having read 3 out of 4 of these books myself, I concur they are important reads.

Here they are with a short description of each:

For Levitin, the most important thing is to aim not just for longevity per se but aim to lengthen your healthy life, keep learning, keep finding purpose, eat well and exercise. Doing those things won’t give you eternal life, but they will make what time you have worth living. sounds good to me. It’s an inspiring read.

Lieberman reflects on the way most of us now live is inconsistent with how we evolved. He debunks a lot of the finger-wagging about our lifestyles. Instead he looks at what the hunter-gatherers, who are living as we evolved to live, do day-to-day. He then suggests ways we can exercise to counteract the effects of diseases that we live with that hunter-gatherers don’t. Not as much fun as Levitin’s book but a good explanation of how we can live better and why we should.

If you go to the gym to walk on the treadmill and maybe use a couple of machines, you may find this too detailed. If you want to know about every muscle group in your body and how to take care of it, this is for you. It’s nearly 400 pages of detailed and well illustrated instruction on how to care for the thing that carries you around. He introduced me to muscle groups I didn’t even know existed and showed me how to care for them.

Potter is an osteopath. He was on his way to medical school when he broke his neck playing rugby. He decided to change directions when an osteopath helped him get his life back. Now he is an osteopath who specializes in cervical spine injuries. His book is largely about chronic pain. Another example of how most of us live in ways inconsistent with how we evolved. He points out that a significant proportion of us, even many in their 20s show deterioration in our spines. Yet many have no symptoms. According to Potter, most chronic pain can be relieved without radical intervention like surgery. It is a very encouraging book.

Charles demonstrating that it’s never a bad time to channel your inner happy baby.

Linda taking strength into her own hands in learning how to deadlift correctly.