Have an Aging Attitude? What Is It?

Around the age of 45- 50, we are considered middle aged, with all it’s implications of going over the hill onto the back side of life. Anything much past 50 is considered an older adult, retired, and/or generally useless and overpaid to the workforce. Grandparents are still good for childcare, but beyond that, our culture no longer encourages us.

Generally, there are two views about aging: those who are looking to reinvent themselves with the skills acquired during their lifetime of experience but maybe not working so hard, and those who want less participation in life and seek to take it easy, rest up, chill out until they die. They feel they have earned the right. Hopefully, they have the financial means and their health to support that view. But what happens to a person physically when mentally they have checked out because they are resting up and chilling out? Does it possibly shorten their life? What happened to  stimulation, creativity, learning ability, self-esteem, and productivity? When you’re chilling, you’re not particularly using your brain. Does all that lifetime of experience talent get diluted and fade?

When we don’t use our brain, our body follows. Our body is a reflection of how we think, but if we are not thinking, our body will deteriorate. When we don’t utilize our brain, accidents happen from lack of attention, pain increases because we are doing less to distract it, alcoholism may increase if there are no filters for having another glass of wine, and our stress levels increase because our lack of exercise leaves them elevated. Not to mention our weight.

When we think and pay attention to what is happening around us, we move more. Weight goes down, longevity goes up. Vision and hearing improve when we move more. We use our peripheral vision, which increases our balance. We move more because we can, because we enjoy it. Fear of trying something new dissipates. We hear more because we are listening more. Our relationships are a joy, not an endurance contest.

Everything improves when we utilize our brain, and age has nothing to do with it. We use age as an excuse not to have to think, or cope, or process anything unpleasant. Age is not an excuse to slow down. If you want to slow, do so for the right reasons. Leave your age out of it.

Whatever you decide, keep thinking.

That’s Aging Intelligently.