klaus
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Feb 22, 2008, 10:46 AM
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I recently had occasion to chat with a young army captain, a man who at age 38 was at the peak of his physical fitness. He confided to me that despite his trim form, he found it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, as his muscles had stiffened during the night. “It takes me a little while to get it together in the morning,” he complained, “because I’m starting to feel a lot of aches and pains. I guess I’m no longer as young as I used to be.”
I imagine that tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo didn’t help matters, but he was voicing a common complaint that most people make at some point in their lives.
While I personally did not experience the rigors of a shooting war, I have spent a lifetime placing heavy physical demands on my body and have begun to feel their effects. Being more than 20 years older than my young conferee, I guess I am lucky that I’m just now beginning to feel the aches and pains most older people endure. But then, I had the forethought while I was still in my late 30s to improve my physical condition and have managed to maintain some semblance of fitness.
There is no doubt that aging has a down side, not the least of which is the gradual deterioration of the physical body. But that down side can be mitigated through diet and exercise.
Back in 1986 photographer Etta Clark published a remarkable book by the name of Growing Old is not for Sissies (Pomegranate Calendars & Books), which is a photo essay devoted to senior athletes. Most of the individuals pictured in this book are well into their senior years, with some far into their 90s. The amazing thing about the individuals featured is that despite their advanced years, all of them have managed to maintain a level of fitness that many younger people would envy.
More remarkable is the fact that the book was reissued in 1995 under the name Getting Old is not for Sissies II, featuring some of the same senior athletes, except they were nearly 10 years older. It was clear that while they had aged chronologically, their bodies still radiated the youthful musculature that made the first book so very interesting.
Genetics has a lot to do with how we age. But more important than our genes is our attitude towards this natural process. We have absolutely no choice about aging; we do have a choice of how we choose to age. We can surrender and let ourselves go both physically and mentally. Or we can choose to age with grace and health by taking care of ourselves.
Looking at the pictures in these two books is both inspirational and uplifting because they offer proof positive that we have the ability to determine how we emerge from our life’s journey. In the words of Dylan Thomas: “Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Klaus Rohrich is President and Creative Director of Taylor/Rohrich Associates Inc., a marketing and advertising firm that specializes in niche marketing retirement real estate developments http://www.maturitymarketing.com.
(This post was edited by klaus on Feb 26, 2008, 1:17 PM)
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