Being Old

Training for the fight.

The old are told to “slow down, take it easy". I believe the opposite is called for.   Take it hard. Train for old age as if it were a prize fight.    For that is what it is, the fight of my life. Struggle as mightily as I can against the inexorable diminishment processes. The melting my muscles away, the clogging of my arteries, the arthritic stiffening my joints , the  clouding my memory, and the piling pounds of fat on my body. I must fight these with all my strength. The happy and wonderful thing is I CAN resist, I can slow the process down. In fact the older I am the greater the leverage I have over by well being.  When I was in my 20s, I was always in good shape. Now if I am lazy, my energy and my endurance quickly fade. But if I work out, if I push myself, I can make substantial gains in energy and endurance, far beyond the gains I would have gotten in my youth. Old age is the golden age for exercise.   

I climb the hill on my bicycle, the muscles in my leg burn, my breath is strained, my heart pounds —- I am winning!  I know that the next time I need to tear across the tennis court, my legs will reap the benefit of my struggle. I summit the hill in triumph. I reap the reward of the  graceful glide down over the passing curves.