I thought it was just another day working in the yard. I had badly sprained my knee about a month ago, and it was healing pretty well. So, I decided that it was healed enough to weed whack and edge my grass after paying someone else to cut it for me. I started blowing the clippings on the driveway and, because it is a wide surface, I moved in a wide motion like ice skaters that go side to side. That may invoke a dramatic image, but this has been my routine for years. Apparently, that was too much for my not-quite-healed knee, so it popped, and I fell to the ground. My daughters had to come pick me up off of the driveway, after my wife announced: “Come out side. Your daddy is down.”
Just before I cranked the blower, something told me that I should have gotten the company that cut the grass to leaf blow the yard, but I didn’t listen to that inner voice that warned me. Needless to say, I’m scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery this June to repair my torn ACL and Meniscus.
Getting older is no joke! It is something we have to take seriously before we get there. So, where is there? Any age north of 40 puts you on the “yellow brick road.”As we approach the age that we know as senior citizenship, a lot of things happen along the way.
In our 40’s, we start to lose the edge on our vision. It seems you cannot read the newspaper, no matter how far you stretch your arms. You go by the dollar store looking for 1.50’s, and I’m not talking about rolling papers, I’m talking about eyeglasses. You see (no pun intended) your 40’s is the hint that poor vision could be something waiting on you in old age.
Your 50’s bring on the more physical challenges of staying in shape. Things as simple as getting out of the bed or picking things up off the floor can become a real challenge. Of course, your 60’s tell you that perhaps your memory is not as good as it was, and you are suffering from CRS syndrome (Can’t Remember Sh!% ).
You don’t have to listen to me, just take the lead from your parents, in laws, any person older than you. or even your doctor. I am sure they have been telling you to do this or to do that, and you just didn’t listen.
As I get older, the one thing that I find myself listening to every day is my body. In my experience, there is something about getting older that gets your inner ear more attuned to the way your blood flows through your veins, the way your brain connects thoughts, the way your heart beat becomes louder and the way your internal clock regulates your life expectancy. I truly feel as though I can hear all of theses things internally!
Just keep living, and you will begin to realize that, in order to age well, you need to focus. You have to listen to that inner voice that tells you: “Write that phone number down, before you forget it,” or “Get up, you are sitting too long.” If you listen a little closer, you may just hear: “You are drinking too much alcohol or smoking too much, and it’s clogging up your brain. So, quit!” This is your body telling you what you need, and that same body can be self-healing. As you get older, take my advice: get focused on you! Listen, and live a good life! The more focused you are, the better your chances are of doing just that.