Old Folks Boogie

There's a line in a song by one of my favorite bands from the 70s, Little Feat. The line goes, "And you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a body that your makes a promise that your body can't fill."  I was thinking about this recently, because I was talking with some people who didn't know how old I was. I told him that I was 59, and they were surprised and thought I was younger.

I get that a lot, but for better or worse it's true. It's weird being almost 60. That sounds old. I know that my general manner isn't old; I'm generally energetic and physical even though I'm not big or super strong or a great athlete or anything like that. I just move around a lot and I do some fairly strenuous exercise. Plus my hair isn't very gray for someone my age. So thus far, I've gotten through my life without acting my age, either when I was younger or now.

What I'm finding though, is that it's become harder and harder work to keep doing what I'm doing, since I have neither the natural energy level nor the resilience I used to. Plus stuff just hurts and you know there's a chance that it'll never get better.

There's a delicate balance in aging, because I think you need to accept certain limits on what you can and can't do, but I think it's bad for you, or at least bad for me, to focus on those limits. I'd rather overdo it and find myself exhausted than underdo it and find myself physically limited just because. A coach I know stresses the importance of practicing even when you don't feel your best, because you never how you're going to feel when you actually have to perform. Wise words, I think.

Hopefully that makes more sense than "I'm trying not to be limited by my limitations," which sounds too motivational-postery for me. It's as much related to keeping yourself strong mentally as anything else. Newtonian laws apply here- it takes effort to get moving and as you get older, it requires more and more thought to convince ones self to make the effort.

I'm not sure how to sum this up, which I think is code for I have no idea what I'm trying to say. How about, growing older is difficult but not impossible, and it's important to understand the difference between the two. That's all for now. Gotta take the garbage and recycling out, whether I feel up to it or not.