It's really up to you...
The best days of your life are in front of you - if you want them to be. To stay vital into your eighties and beyond you have to make a conscious choice to create a shift in thinking… a new mindset around fitness, nutrition and engagement.
To do that, you have to examine and be willing to change your own stories around aging - which means resetting some of your habits.
Examining your current stories doesn’t have to be painful. It should be enlightening, because a lot of what we have become was out of our control. How we grew up, our family dynamics and the culture that surrounded us, shaped our stories.
TIP: The most effective way to examine your stories is to look at them from a clinical perspective. Leave the emotion out of it. What’s done is done. Now, you’re just searching for data to help you create a new story… something that you can control.
So let’s get clinical: Slip into your mental white lab coat, pick up your clipboard and think about:
- What has informed your thinking up to this point?
- How do your beliefs about divorce, death, friends and family factor into your decision making?
- How do your memories and hopes affect what you do?
- What story do you have around retirement?
- What comes to mind when you think about your potential… and your potential unfulfilled?
- Do you buy things to make you feel better? Does that work for you in the long term?
Okay, it may feel like you’re on the couch and I’m getting all Fruedian on you… but this isn’t about delving deeply into your life in search of the root causes of your story - it’s an opportunity to establish a baseline so that you can create new ones. That’s the beauty of life. Every day is a new opportunity - a blank slate - no matter your age.
So don’t limit yourself around your personal aging story - create a story you aspire to live. Be curious - look into something you’ve always been interested in but never pursued… and begin to think of curiosity as your new best friend, as it will take you to what you’re really passionate about.
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”—Albert Einstein
Then, think about the challenges or barricades that you think stand in your way and you’ll quickly realize that you have complete power to overcome them by reseting some of your habits. It takes a shift of thinking, working at it and holding yourself accountable - and it's all doable.
Sure, life hands us a lot that we have no control over… all the more reason to take control of what we can. It's always good to remember that this life of yours is not a dress rehearsal...