Dear Fox,
I am now in middle age, mid-forties, married with two adult children whom I absolutely adore. I have 3 dogs, a few good friends, a part-time'ish job, a blog and I love to run on my treadmill.
I enjoy spending time with you, Braden and your dad, nana and papa and on the rare occasion going out with friends to socialize.
Mentally I am in a good place, physically I am getting better. My body is showing signs of a life well lived. I have some aches and pains, slow to start and not near as limber as I use to be. I suppose some of that comes with age, but in reality lets remember my 20 + years of lifting and transferring.
Spiritually and mentally I still feel like a young adult. I find pleasure in walking, painting, photography, writing, and being creative. Those are the things that bring me peace.
I have written a blog a while back about the importance of keeping your mind, body and soul all aligned. In order to have complete peace and happiness I truly believe you must be balanced.
Staying balanced is not easy, it takes a lot of work and consistent striving. That is something that must follow you into old age. I know I have said to you before, actually I preach to you that people change through the course of their lives. ("No, I don't think we change", "Ya I think we do, we change a little") lol Bridesmaids* That's our typical exchange between you and I ;)
As stated in the title, science has made it possible to live longer, but it hasn't spent anything on developing ways to being older.
We are curing illness, treating life threatening diseases and providing home care for those who are aging in our society. Generally we are living longer, this is good right? The only problem is we need to catch up with the aging population. Our society and communities needs to invest more into our seniors. Get them out, take an interest in their lives. Teach them to have an interest in their own lives.
For me, I believe in the natural progression of aging. If you live a healthy life then you should find no problems with aging.
People assume that just because you are 65 years old, and your knees hurt, or your back hurts it gives you permission too feel that its because you are aging. In fact, it is NOT because you are 65 years old that your body aches, more often than not your body aches due to unforeseen circumstances from something in your past. Possibly staying in a competitive job for 30 years where you are doing the same body mechanics for 8 hours a day, the toll has caught up.
Or maybe your memory isn't as good as it once was, its not because you are 80 years old, your age shouldn't effect the aging process. There would be other reasons for your bad memory, maybe inheriting Alzheimer's.
So, my advice to you dear fox is too stay active, live a healthy lifestyle and age naturally. Do not take advantage of your healthy, fit, beautiful body because if not taken care of properly that will slowly erode.
It scares me, this whole aging process and I will continue to remind you that taking care of yourself is the most important part of life.
Grow into your adult life with healthy habits, interests that encourage you to learn, open mind, community engagement and a strong faith based love of god.
Age happily, its a privilege to become old never take that for granted.
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