If you are young and in good physical shape, you have been blessed. If you appreciate your blessing, you will surely want to maintain your physical condition as you age.
Staying young is not possible, but staying fit is. If you are young, ask yourself if you are accidentally in shape because you are young, or if you are in shape through intention and conscious choice.
Out of shape Older people can be out of shape for the same reason that they were fit when they were young: they were fit by accident, because they were young, without the conscious intention of being physically fit.
Look at your choices and your clothes under a microscope. Are you a person who is usually too busy to exercise? Does your lunch come from a gas station quick market? Can you be too busy to make healthy decisions? Maybe you’re just comfortable where you are, unprepared, or unwilling to change your status quo.
You can be young and fit accidentally, but you will never be old and you will be fit accidentally.
It is easy to understand how age is blamed for poor physical condition: time exacerbates the results of abusive and neglectful habits.
Ask yourself what aging means to you. Do you think you will live (or not) to old age because of your genetics? Do you think your choices and good habits can contribute to a healthier old age?
If a level of physical fitness comes automatically with youth, does that mean that the opposite, a level of “lack of fitness”, comes automatically as you age? The answer depends on much more than genetics or luck.
In a world that sees better healthcare as access to cheaper and more affordable medicines, the meaning and reality of aging is likely to be misunderstood.
Aging is an undeniable reality, however, we can affect the way we age by choosing our habits in a conscious and prudent way. It is possible to stay in shape as you grow older.
This is not a discussion about unfortunate bad luck or accidents. We must sympathize with people who suffer unavoidable accidents that lead to health problems. We must sympathize with people who fall ill through no fault of their own or because they didn’t ‘know better before it was too late.
If you have visited an assisted living home, you have seen older people with extremely weak arm and leg muscles, so weak that they cannot get up from a chair or stand up unaided.
Simple muscle weakness comes from muscle neglect. “Use it or lose it” is more than a hackneyed expression. We can only do what we are capable of doing. The point is to do what you can do.
Conscious choice and intention, the good decisions made consciously that become your good habits, are critical to maintaining the fitness that automatically comes with youth.
Don’t make the common mistake of confusing aging with the results of abuse or neglect. Don’t unfairly assign the results of years of bad habits to old age.
Live life with intention and with the conscious choice to be fit. Make conscious decisions that improve the condition of your body while consciously avoiding decisions that you know are bad. Include fitness activities in your daily life. Eat Mother Nature’s best creations, in their original form. Avoid all processed foods. You don’t want hidden calories or ingredients.
Accidents, including being young and fit, must be avoided. Young or old, don’t accidentally live life.