staying strong and healthy after 50

Enough already!

So you’re over 50. You’ve always been pretty healthy. You walk, exercise, keep in shape. When you see people who don’t seem to follow a healthy lifestyle, you tsk tsk them. Think they’re lazy, or wonder why they’ve given up. Don’t they want to live a long life? Aren’t they concerned about that bulging belly?

Then it starts. One day, you pull a muscle in your back. Okay, no big deal. You take a pill, get a massage, and go easy for a bit. Surely it will heal soon.

But it doesn’t. At least not completely. Isn’t that aggravating. Oh well, it could be worse.

And then it does get worse.

You jam your thumb. Stub your toe. Step off the porch and sprain your ankle. Now you have pain in several parts of your body, and you’re starting to list when you walk. What’s the deal here?

Where did your fit body go? Now you can’t go to the gym because it hurts too much. You can’t swing the golf club because your back is shot. Riding a bike doesn’t go well with your sore ankle. Even your dog is suffering because you can’t walk your usual distance due to your sore toe.

You’ve become one of them…the people you used to mentally chastise. People who are on the couch watching the Tour de France instead of walking on the treadmill. The more you stay away from the gym, the harder it is to get back…or even remember why you were going. And it seems like this happened so fast.

It just doesn’t seem fair that after a lifetime of doing the right thing, you feel sabotaged by your own body. As though you are Gulliver and all your aches and pains have tied you down…and you wake up and can’t move. And what’s the deal with these bruises that seem to pop up if you even slightly brush a wall or lean up against a car? So attractive.

All the lines, the marks, the wrinkles…they suddenly seem to define you. Yet inside, you’re 30. Sort of. Maybe you’re more like a fun-loving 30-year-old who likes to nap. And wears a big hat in the sun. And groans a bit when you get in and out of the car.

Who doesn’t?

It’s not that an ice bag or bandage or heating pad or bottle of Aleve doesn’t help us…thank heavens the opposite is true. We heal, we get back in shape, we get moving. It’s just too important to live as healthy as you can stand, so you can live a long, enjoyable life. That might mean a new knee, acupuncture in the back, foot surgery, or whatever is on the horizon.

Parts wear out. But these days, we can replace a lot of them.

Or reach for the oil can, like the tin woodman. It’s okay.

Maybe some aches and pains are Nature’s way of telling us to slow down and pay attention. To not make leisure time so grueling, and instead of trying to outrun aging, just let it be. Pace ourselves, so we can stay in shape, be healthy, and live as independently as possible.

Because getting older takes some muscle. And it’s our turn to flex it!