Old As You Feel
It may be time for an attitude adjustment. If you start embracing old age at sixty you may miss out on the best of times. Of course, there will be days when you feel your age, but it won’t be the first time, and likely won’t be the last. You will be okay if you just listen to your body.
An independent lifestyle is not something that you can take for granted, it will take determination and hard work to do it right. The time to decide is right now, today.
Health care professionals have been trying to educate the general population for years, but nobody listens. Humans, it seems, are programed to ignore advice whatever age they are, but there is still time.
If they had listened, they would all be perfect specimens by now. Look around you. How many perfect specimens do you see?
Still, the human body is forgiving and for many true believers it will not be too late. In the past people died at 40, 50, or 60 of “natural causes,” long before chronic illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease made their appearance. Now, many seniors are being successfully treated for at least one of these conditions as they pass each milestone.
You can whine or you can adapt. I recently read about a 75-year-old man who had multiple chronic ailments. His medical history could have spelled doom and gloom, but guess what? He holds a position on the Supreme Court. Go figure.
If you look at your medical history, what do you see? Terms that begin with the world “failure” (heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure) are commonplace, but you are still here. Isn’t modern medicine grand?
Being independent and aging successfully can give you more time to become the person you were meant to be. Researchers are working hard to debunk the idea that to be old is to be frail and to be sick. Even in advanced old age, an overwhelming number of people remain functionally able. Do not despair. You are only as old as you feel.
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