Healthy Aging Is Not Just About Living Longer
Today, I turn 64.
As I mentioned in a recent blog post, great friend of mine never got a chance to do so.
In many ways, I saw myself in him.
We were born 4 months apart, both 63, physically active, running businesses, raising kids in their early twenties, and celebrating 35 years of being sober.
Looking at him was a lot like looking in the mirror…until it wasn’t.
Earlier this summer, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, and just 85 days later, he was gone.
This both shattered and reinforced my beliefs about the proactive role we must play in our health.
The shattering came from the cognitive dissonance. He was so vital and then, in a very brief period of time, that life energy disappeared. This demonstrated that in the end we absolutely don’t have control. Nothing is promised, even to those who “make great choices.”
However, this also reinforced my beliefs that the rewards for accepting responsibility for our health yields incredible results, as I saw how well his fitness practices served him right up until the end. On the day before his cancer diagnosis, he crushed a 60-mile bike ride, which he then followed up with a little mountain climbing while on vacation in Sedona.
His last 85 days were the only ones when his body held him back at all. Every day before that, he lived powerfully and on purpose. His life choices let him feel deep satisfaction. Throughout almost all of his days, his body was his willing partner.
As I launch into my 65th year, I know that while nothing is promised, most of us at this age will live for another two or three decades. The choices we make will profoundly shape how we experience whatever time we get.
Beginning my 65th year has made me think even more about this, as 65 has long been treated as the age we are expected to slow down. Social Security and Medicare were set for that date, implying that our contributions were no longer needed. That story of imminent decline no longer serves us.
When I was younger, and in the financial planning world, one of the first questions I was trained to ask was, “When do you want to retire?” The goal always seemed to set the date as early as possible. As I’ve aged, I have found that question falls flat for most.
Being in a position economically to retire is a great thing, but most of us want to continue to add value. We want to live with purpose, and much of that is often found within our careers. What we don’t want is to lack the physical vitality to engage, whether personally or professionally, in the way that we want.
What are you hoping for yourself in your later decades? Do the choices you are making today make that outcome the most likely? If not, are you willing to make the small investments in yourself that have a very high probability of having a huge ROI?
For me, this year has a purpose. I want to help shift a belief many of us carry without noticing: that physical vitality is something we receive early and lose on a schedule. It isn't. Strength, balance, and endurance respond to challenges at almost every age, even if it’s been years since we were last training.
Over the coming year, I'll be sharing this work openly, including where I'm growing, where I'm stretching, and where I'm still figuring it out.
Whenever the call comes, and it will come for each of us, I want to look back the way my friend did. Near the end, knowing he was passing, he was fully satisfied with the life he’d lived. I intend to live so I can say the same, and I hope you'll join me.
This Week: Recommit to your physical vitality this week, even if it’s just for fifteen minutes a day. Notice how you feel afterward.
Reflection: If you looked back on your life today, could you say you lived well? What would need to change for you to say so?