Feeling old sucks…. let me say that again… feeling old sucks. Now let me clarify, I don’t think that aging sucks, or that getting older sucks…. On the contrary, I think that aging is a beautiful thing. Life is a beautiful thing and I am more grateful for it every day that I am alive. But… I know for a fact that feeling old sucks. I imagine that many of you are reading this and thinking, he’s not old, he wouldn’t know. Maybe you’re right, but before you place that judgement on me, please allow me to explain why I think you’re wrong. Feeling old is feeling tired when doing things that a child can do easily. Those of you who have had mono like I did, know what I’m talking about. Feeling old is feeling like moving isn’t the same as it used to be. Five years ago I broke my collar bone and, even after it healed, trying to move the same felt wrong. The bone actually healed in such a way that now my entire right shoulder girdle is constructed slightly differently than my left. To this day, I have to adjust in order for it to feel right. Feeling old is getting injurred , sometimes repeatedly in the same place, and innocently believing that it will never get better. Thoughts rush into your head. Thoughts like, “I’ve tried everything to fix this. Nobody seems to be able to help me. Nothing works, I guess I’m just getting old now.” Three years ago I injured my right knee training for a marathon, and even after I wanted to believe that it was healed, for a long time, walking did not feel the same. In fact, I felt so fragile, that I worried that simply taking a wrong step would be catastrophic. Feeling old is looking at someone else and thinking, I will never be able to that again in my life. Feeling old is having a fear of falling. Two and a half years ago I broke my neck. And every single moment of every single day for almost a full year, I felt a constant fear of falling. I thought I may wake up the next day paralyzed from sleeping wrong. I thought I may not be able to look up or down or left or right without pain. I thought I may not wake up again tomorrow. I may not yet know what it’s like to embarrass myself trying to be cool around my teenage children by speaking their slang, but for the most part, I think I know what I’m talking about when I say, feeling old sucks.
Not to mention, I’ll just put it out there, exercise sucks! If you meet someone who says they like exercise, they are either lying to themselves, or they are a Unicorn. This may come as a shock to some of you, but I hate exercise. I hate doing Tabata. I hate doing HIIT training. I hate doing sprints to train for a 5k. Shoot… I don’t even really like running 5k’s. Exercise is a means to an end. It has a time and a place. The definition of exercise is actually purposeful movement intended for reaching a future goal. If you have bucket list items – items like; Running a marathon, competing in team and/or individual sports, climbing Mt. Everest, etc… then exercise is essential for healthy success. Having said that, in the game of life, I rarely exercise. Because the word exercise implies a feeling of unenjoyable hard and time consuming work. For those bucket list items, unenjoyable hard time consuming work is inevitable. However, in the game of life, healthy movement does not have to feel like unenjoyable, hard, time consuming work. In fact, I simply call it moving. Because movement is life. Movement is always and forever. I actually really LOVE moving. I love that I can reach up over my head without my formerly injured right shoulder clicking. I love knowing that I can painlessly jog again, not so I can run a 5k, and not so I can brag about my knee not hurting anymore, but so that I can play with my future children and grandchildren on the beach. I love that I can answer questions simply by shaking my head yes and no without arthritic pain in my neck kicking in. I love that I can function the way that a normal human being is supposed to function.
So from now on when you say that feeling old sucks, understand that feeling old is just a temporary feeling… no different than feeling happy, mad or sad. And to let the feeling of being old stop you from living life is like saying you give up. And from now on when you say that exercise sucks, know that you are not alone. Exercise does suck. You don’t have to like exercise. But if you are choosing to live a life that represents a healthy lifestyle, then you MUST find a place in your heart for moving. Find yourself a movement practice.
What is a movement practice?
A movement practice is anything that allows your body to function in the way a normal human being should function. In order to succeed in any movement practice, any one, what-so-ever, one must first have quality posture. Your movement will only ever be as good as your posture. Your movement is actually just an expression of your posture. There are limitless ways of expressing it. But if your posture is unhealthy, then you are progressing yourself to unhealthy movement and injury. If your posture is healthy, then you are progressing your movement towards a life of longevity and strength. I have yet to find a movement practice, exercise, posture, sport, performing arts, martial arts, anything… that does not thrive from having healthy posture. I have yet to hear any of the most successful coaches, athletes and movement educators say that posture is not important. If you listen to these people, even though they teach completely different disciplines, you will notice that the root of what they say comes from the same place. What it boils down to is that posture is the root of all movement. And if you ever neglect that reality, then you are investing in future injuries.
So… I believe that there is no greater gift that you can give yourself than the gift of healthy posture. To educate yourself on healthy posture. To provide tools on acquiring healthy posture. To regularly maintain a body that promotes healthy posture. Because without healthy posture, there is no healthy movement practice. There is no running, walking, biking, swimming, kneeling, sitting, moving – you name it…. without also investing in a future injury. Without also saying, I feel old. Let’s give ourselves the gift of movement. Let’s give ourselves the gift of feeling young again.