Aging Isn’t the Problem. Giving Up Is.
Aging Isn’t the Problem. Giving Up Is.
I remember being in elementary school, sitting on the floor cross-legged and having to wait for the rest of the class to get up and clear the rug before I would start to stand. I learned to do that because, in their rush, they would often step on my hands as I slowly pushed myself off the ground, knees stiff and painful, my elbows and wrists just as bad. Eventually, the teachers gave me special treatment and allowed me to sit behind everyone in a chair. It gave me physical relief, but it created more of a divide between myself and the kids who already didn’t like me for the disabilities they didn’t understand.
I mention growing up with autoimmune diseases quite a bit now in hopes of inspiring others to act on their health. But I don’t necessarily go into detail about what it was like. The irony now is that my peers then, the ones springing around in childhood, unable to comprehend what it felt like to be in my body, are now beginning to learn as they begin their decline.
So many times, I want to take people by the shoulders, look them in the eye, and tell them the hard truth in a way they’ll understand. If getting older were truly the issue, then why am I not worse than they are? Yet I stand stronger, more mobile, and pain free.
I am not a genetic anomaly where time hasn’t touched me. Nor am I lucky to have never had an acute injury or disease. I started early in life being far behind nearly everyone else, and now I’ve surpassed many of them. How can this be?
I can tell you nutrition and exercise, but that would only be part of the truth. The bigger picture includes how I stopped seeing myself as a victim of circumstance. There was nothing I could do to change what had happened, but I could show up differently for my future self.
I claimed my power. I turned my pain into purpose. Past lessons into possibilities.
Now when I hear, “I’m getting older,” I hear someone giving over their power.
When someone explains that their current condition is due to past circumstances, I notice how they are usually making an excuse not to be proactive. Instead, they fall into a different hardship. Pills, shots, surgeries that may give relief, but at a much greater expense of time, money, and quality of life.
The key to aging gracefully, as I have learned, is radical self-leadership over immediate yet temporary gratification.
Each new year offers an opportunity to reclaim your power. How will you step into it?
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