Getting Old is Not for Sissies

I talk to people who are planning for retirement and I ask them what they plan to do when they retire, all too often there is no real response. Many say they will figure that out once they get there. Which is sort of like kicking the worn out can down the road until you maybe find somewhere to put it in the trash, and if you don’t well then, oh well. I would prefer to wear our than rust out. If I wear out at least I kept moving instead of rusted away to nothing.

Getting old is not for sissies, ask anyone who is over fifty as they adjust to what their mind thinks they can do and how their body is actually able to comply with those ideas. Sissies do not adjust well to disappointment nor do they tolerate pain. Getting older means we have to live with how things work now not how they used to work, and that applies for both our bodies and our brains.

The people who adjust well to aging are those who have something to do, something they enjoy and that engages their brains. Sitting and rocking on the porch sounds idyllic as we rush through our over scheduled and busy lives, however sitting on the porch does not keep people alive for long. Being able to get up and do something requires that there be something to do, something that makes the person use all their faculties each and every day.

As you think about your future days, how do you imagine your later years? What do you like to do now that you want to do more of in the future? What do you want to learn, share, perfect, or simply do to spend your days doing it well? Let me encourage you to find one or a dozen things so you are that weathered, wise sissie who has more to do than just sit on the porch and rock away the days.