Getting old isn’t the source of our aches and pains or muddled minds. A lifetime of habits and bad choices is. Humans may not be built to last forever, but I bet they’d age better and die with more grace if they made healthier choices today.
An analogy, maybe getting a bit worn from use, is how we treat automobiles. When you take care of your auto it lasts longer. Fuel it with good quality gasoline, change the oil, give it regular checkups, and rotate the tires as recommended (or sooner), and the car can last for thousands of miles and many years. I just heard of a well-loved, one-owner, 22-year old truck that had over 900,000 miles on it that was running strong. Over 900,000 miles! Most people I know start considering trading their autos in as they near 100,000 miles.
People don’t get traded in like autos do, though they might wish they could do that. <grin> And even when people don’t take excellent care of their autos, they quite probably are taking better care of their cars than they are of themselves.
Since you can’t trade yourself in for a different, newer model, why don’t you take care of yourself? Why buy into the myth that our bodies decay as we age and that aches and pains, and muddled minds, are a natural part of aging? Buying into that myth ensures that you will become what you expect, that you create the very aged body you “fear”. What about aiming for a vibrant life and old age?
There is an interesting collection of “it’s hard” statements floating around.
- It’s hard to eat a healthy diet.
- It’s hard to fit exercise into my life.
- It’s hard saying “no” to unhealthy foods.
- It’s hard having aching joints.
- It’s hard being overweight.
- It’s hard getting old.
Getting old is the only item in that shortlist of “it’s hard” statements that you don’t have control over. If you don’t want to have getting old to be hard, then why don’t you do something about changing that paradigm now?
The first three items on that list contribute to the fourth and fifth items on the list, which in turn contribute to the last item on the list. Taking baby steps is one way to turn your aging around. You choose which of those first three complaints you want to start with baby steps towards a vibrant old age. If you want to attain that vibrancy faster, tackle the first three items at once.
How is that a lifestyle of eating a healthy diet and moving frequently can help you avoid aches and pains or muddled mind? Healthy food is the quality fuel that runs your machine. A healthy diet reduces inflammatory foods which impact your guts, joints, muscles, and brain. Frequent moving keeps joints and muscles lubricated so that they bend and stretch. Your food and movement keep the blood flowing round and round carrying the nutrients every bit of your body needs, oxygen being one of the critical nutrients. Muddled minds are often the result of inadequate oxygen and inappropriate fuel.
Of course, there are other contributing factors to aches and pains or a muddled mind. Proper maintenance of your machine goes a long way toward reducing those problems, even with other factors in play.
One other secret to a vibrant body, which is what I call a body that doesn’t suffer from aches and pains or a muddled mind, is a positive attitude and a happy outlook on life. Those last two items are especially valuable for overcoming the “other contributing factors”.
Make vibrancy your lifestyle now so that you don’t have a sentence of decrepitude. You can’t start too soon in developing a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the sooner you start it the better life will be all along your path.