Smart Aging Is Work: How Much Does It Cost?

What got you here in life is not going to get you to the end of your life. You have less time; you need to move faster, do more. There are no more free rides; your youth will not save you. You are going to have to work a lot smarter just to maintain. Which means, you need to be more creative. And efficient.

You can still be active, agile, outrageous, opinionated with substance, intelligent, fearless, and fun. But it will cost you more time, maybe more money. You might need a trainer to keep you on track. If you want to age intelligently, that’s a price you will pay. Think about on what you spend your money: dining out, good wine, your appearance to yourself and others, your kids or your pets, travel, education. Education? Getting older is about getting educated about getting older. You need to know how to fight gravity, how often and which parts of your body to keep moving, how to combat that spare tire around your middle, what foods might affect you diet-wise, how little sleep you can tolerate and still function efficiently. These are not things you thought about before. This is new.

In youth, a lot of us could function on coffee, skipping breakfast, 2 hours of sleep, too much work in not enough time, and bad relationships. None of it much mattered, because we were young and invincible. Jobs might come and go: one year I had 14 W2 forms at tax time. Ok, they were all for bartending and cocktail waitressing, and it is a flaky business, but still, that’s a lot of jobs. I had no health insurance, no health issues, no weight problem, no savings, no worries, no fear, 6 roommates and a car payment of $65 a month. I was on top of the world. I was young.

Things change, time accelerates. Christmas used to take forever to arrive. Now, it’s here way too soon.

Now I find that eye drills are useful while waiting for the light to change. Abdominal exercises help pass the time in bumper to bumper traffic. Standing when having a phone conversation is good, and I try to walk when having an in-person conversation.

I didn’t use to do any of this, but then, I used to be totally invincible. I like feeling sorta, kinda, somewhat invincible as I age. I don’t want to feel like I can no longer do the things that make me happy, so I am willing to do the work necessary to be able to have choice in life. I still like to do cartwheels. I don’t want to stop because of my age. So I do the work. Aging intelligently takes focus and deliberate, consistant practice. It doesn’t seem like work if I still have choice. And choice in life….is everything.

This is Aging Intelligently.