I am sitting in a café having herbal tea and doing some work here on the laptop.
About ten feet from me is a gentleman, I would say is about 70 years old or so.
Let’s call him “Steve”.
He walks very slowly, takes small steps as he walks and shuffles with each step.
This got me thinking and wondering about getting older.
What did he do years ago to arrive at this stage in his life?
What habits changed in his life that are giving him his current state of his mind and his body today?
(Note: now let me qualify something here before I continue, I don’t know this man and I don’t know anything about the state of his health. I am speculating…)
What we do earlier on in our life affects our later years.
Now, let that sink in, REALLY sink in.
What we do earlier on in our life affects our later years…
…both in the mind and in the body.
Let’s look at how habits are formed.
A habit initially started as a thought to do something.
When we do something, we are taking action.
When we repeat the action over and over, this becomes a pattern and the repeated pattern becomes a habit.
These repeated habits form deep grooves in the brain. The longer we repeat these patterns, the deeper the grooves in the brain.
So let’s go back to Steve for a moment.
Steve may have been physically active in his 20’s and 30’s. Then he got married, had kids, moved up in his career and life took over and he stopped being physically active.
Initially he had formed the habit of being physically active daily and kept this up for many years.
Then he stopped.
He started sitting more. He started sitting longer.
When he was physically active, he watched what he ate. He ate “clean” most of the time (about 80 % of the time) – whole grains, vegetables, fruits, good fats and fish and chicken.
When he started sitting more, he started eating less “clean”…more processed foods, more alcohol, more junk food and more sugar.
Let’s recap: in his 20’s and 30’s, he was physically active and ate clean 80% of the time – two definite longtime habits had formed.
Then he started to sit more and the quality of the foods he ate went downhill…now two different sets of habits – repeated patterns of sitting longer and more often and eating whenever and whatever.
And now Steve was in this current state with his body and with his mind.
He let the good habits he had formed earlier on in his life slip away and he maybe he wasn’t even aware of it until…
…he noticed that he was walking more slowly, taking smaller steps and shuffling with each step.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of forming good habits earlier on in life for both your mind and body that will definitely slow down the ageing process, keep your body flexible and strong and your mind keen and alert.
I look around me and I see many people in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s who are having a real challenge with the ageing process.
Being overweight, having joint issues (i.e. arthritis), lacking clarity in your mind, etc. all affect your wellbeing and the quality of your life.
If you’re reading this right now and you’re in your 20’s and 30’s, get some good habits under your belt NOW.
Later on, life will be more challenging in your 60’s and 70’s and you’ll be more susceptible to faster ageing.
Who wants that??!!
If you’re in your 50’s, 60’s or 70’s right now and you’re overweight, have joint pain and your thinking is not clear, etc., you can take steps to make the time you have left more enjoyable.
What action step can you take today?
