About three years ago, I started having difficulty with my back particularly with getting out of bed in the morning and my knees were giving me trouble especially when going up and down stairs. I also noticed that my flexibility was not that great. Trouble getting out of bed in the morning, aching knees, flexibility issues - sounds like a 70-year-old, right? At the time, I thought, 'Hey, wait a minute, I'm only 43!' I could see those things happening to someone in their 70's or 80's, but not to someone in their 40's. This was after years of a high intensity work style and it only got worse over the next three years as I added the 'road warrior' aspect of living out of a suitcase in hotels lifestyle.
Now if those are the things occurring in my mid 40's, what is going to be happening physically when I hit 60 or 70 or 80? There's an awfully long time between the ages of 40 and 60/70/80 to be experiencing those aches and pains, especially because aches and pains usually only become worse as you get older. If I'm having trouble getting myself out of bed in my 40's, what am I going to be like 20 years from now?! That could look like 20, 30 or 40 YEARS of aching back, knee pain and limited flexibility? Uh-huh, not if I can help it!
It seems like we (and this is the collective we now, not the Steve and I we) forget (ignore?) that our bodies lose resiliency as we get older and that we may not snap back so quickly from the damages we inflict upon ourselves. We go through our lives heaping on bad eating, poor nutrition, virtually no exercise, stress and diminishing levels of sleep. We end up overweight with no strength or flexibility, crabby from tension, and unable to do anything but sit in front of telly because we're too tired, sore, stressed to do anything else. We pile this on year after year and then we hit retirement we're surprised because instead of visiting the wonders of the world, we spend all our time trying to find the wonders of the medical world - to repair / cure what is almost certainly now unrepairable / incurable.
What took a few days to repair in one's 20's, takes a few weeks to repair in one's 30's and months to repair in one's 40's. If we are going to enjoy, maximise, have a fantastic time in the 2nd half of our 750,000 Hours, we need to be physically fit for it - and I think that's something we tend to ignore in our day-to-day living. We assume we're just going to magically get to the day when we give up serious work and, poof, all of a sudden we'll be able to sail across oceans, climb mountains and bike ride across America / Europe. Actually, if we don't pay attention and make sure our bodies are ready, we'll get to do the exact opposite of those things as we struggle with a walker, a powered cart and our shopping bag full of meds between home and the doctor's, home and the hospital.
Bend down and place your hands flat on the floor, can you do it? Can you ride 20 or 30 miles on a bike? Can you walk (without having to call a 'rescue taxi') 6 or 7 miles? Is your body ready to give you the post-work life you're planning on? If it's not, now's the time to start doing something about it - not when you hit 65.
Some find they can get / keep in shape by going to the gym. Others keep physically active, strong and flexible through running, yoga, dance. They make time on a regular basis to work on themselves physically. We're doing it by challenging ourselves physically in a 'change your whole lifestyle' way. We spent the winter clambering around and pulling ropes on a sailboat, we lost weight and gained a ton of flexibility (amazing how flexible and strong you get when the step from the dingy to the boat is 3 feet high and you're pulling sails against a 20 mile per hour wind). We also didn't have a car in any of the places we went to so we walked everywhere and carried everything in our arms. This summer, we're continuing to build strength and recovering our aerobic capability on a tandem bicycle. We'll get up to 45 miles per day for a minimum of three days in a row in preparation for a two-week bike trip through Brittany. The goal, to physically challenge ourselves and to get into optimum shape now - then to maintain that shape so that we're physically capable to do the things we want to do as we get older. One of our Red Book (see earlier posts on this topic) goals for this year is to get in the best shape of our lives.
When was the last time you physically challenged yourself and is your body ready to do all the things you're wanting to do during the second half of your 750,000 Hours?
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