One of the most difficult things we do in life is figuring out how to age gracefully. Learning how to walk was easy, our doting parents helped. Learning how to ride a bicycle wasn’t too difficult. We either had training wheels or a willing parent to run alongside. But aging…no one helps.
I turned around yesterday…I think it was yesterday, and I was tired. Not tired in the sense that I’d worked hard. Not tired in the sense I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. I was just tired, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Several years ago, I’d gone Scuba diving. Thirty feet down I lost my mask, not a crisis. Dozens of times it has happened. You put it back on, blow out the water, and continue…but this time I hyperventilated…a sort of panic. The Dive Master helped me and sitting on shore I realized I didn’t dive often enough to react properly. I’d gotten old. I don’t dive anymore.
I’ve bicycled since I was a preteen but the risk of falling and suffering more than a scraped knee began to outweigh the pleasures. I don’t bicycle anymore.
Skiing! Never good, but always enthusiastic. I don’t ski anymore.
Tennis. Pretty fair; great friends and terrific exercise. Then the breathing and stamina issues arrived. I don’t play tennis anymore.
I’m sure you see where this is all going. Your life changes in the blink of an eye. Friends move away or die. Kids move away; their own lives evolve.
But no loss compares with losing one’s partner and having to tread the remaining years by yourself.
There is no perfect solution. Each of us needs to get up each morning with a passion, an energy to learn something new, or help someone…find a way to make a difference. You are not allowed to sit on your ass and complain…not as long as there is another tomorrow!