Keeping the "big picture" in mind is very important to me.
It is easy to get distracted by breaks in exercise, times when the pattern of activity gets interrupted by life in general. It is then when the temptation to take the easy road (the couch) is the strongest.
For me - I have really only one goal - my big picture: age well, age comfortably, age with enough energy and flexibility to do what I want for a long time.
I wish our culture wasn't so shallow in their judgements of its older citizens.
Well, I can't change that. But I can march to my own drum.
All the really "young at heart" people I know are active. They are moving. And they are interesting people who have active minds and bodies. They are interested in living, thinking, creating.
I believe aging gracefully includes respect for the limitations of the aging body (that isn't supposed to live forever), and making the most of what body and mind are left to you at any given time of life. It is accepting the limitations that nature has hard wired into you at birth while using the rest as best you can.
For me - walking is the key to the "big picture."
7 comments:
My "big picture" seems to be much like yours . . . not trying to win any "marathons" at all. Enjoying the sights and sounds and clicking off some 10,000 steps is relaxing, fun too. I am enjoying my Townee bike very much during these cooler mornings/evenings!
Thanks for your encouraging comments on my blog.
I'm walking only in the cool mornings currently, but am planning to walk also on September evenings, and by October to be walking three times a day, minimum of half hour each time.
A day I don't get to walk early is a day that doesn't seem "right" somehow.
Yes, our bodies were made and meant to move!
More power to ya!
Oh girl, I am with you on aging and our attitude toward it. I walk 4 days a week along the bay, and two times a week exercise on a stationary bike and in a pool at a health club. With you, I am young at heart and marching to my own drum.
I couldn't agree with you more.
You're absolutely right, I think that's why we reach for our goal steps daily at a minimum. You're doing great, keep up the good work!! :-)
Walking is the best exercise ever!
On the aging end, last summer I went to Columbia University to the Teacher's College for a week of classes. Several "younger" teachers from my school also went...and they took the subway and I walked the 22 blocks to the University...they shunned me as "old." Funny that when I was a brand new teacher at 25 years old, all of my teacher friends were within a few years of retiring but they were a wealth of knowledge and still today, 27 years later I am still friends with them. I can't wait to see where these teachers are in 20 years...they out weigh me and are in much worse shape than I am...but of course, what do I know?
TGIF!
I am with you about aging well. I am currently sidelined from outside walking as the PF is hurting too much for walking on pavement. In order to stay active and not give in to "rusting away" I have joined Water Aerobics, just starting on the rowing machine at the Gym and possibly doing the Eliptical. I am still biking every now and then.
Also changing my eating habits to the point that less sugar in my diet will give me more energy.
I am enjoying reading your Blogs.
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