What it really means when we say that “age is just a number”

Americans love to celebrate the passing of each decade up until, well, forty. You can buy a slew of Hallmark Cards which jokingly express great sorrow at the Passing of Youth, and each card gets blacker in humor the bigger the number. While that’s funny, the absolute belief that you deteriorate swiftly with age is, in fact, genuinely deadly.

My sports jock chiropractor Kevin Plummer is 48. In school, he was a decathlete. For those not familiar with the term, it’s a multi-sport event:

Decathlon events are: (first day) 100-metre dash, running long (broad) jump, shot put, high jump, and…

And as such, that does not make it a fact for anyone else on the planet.

It may not seem this way but this is an article about aging and fitness. Bear with me, it’s a fun journey.

In this binary, alternative-fact universe which has always existed for humans but which has been revealed in all its glory by social media, idiot pundits (and I’ve been one myself, to be fair) love to wax poetic about Much They Know Nothing About. I have found the propensity to baldly state one’s opinion as though it had the Weight of Ages and Sages increasingly ridiculous.

All anyone has to do for Exhibit #1 was look at some of…

On how the link economy attitude can help build your followers’ loyalty

A few minutes ago on Linked In I read the following article from my National Speaker’s Association buddy Sam Horn:

From her article:

I smiled, “I’m not having a midlife crisis, I’m having midlife clarity. I’m clear that if I don’t do this now, I may never get the chance. And that’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”

Furthermore, I wasn’t planning on doing nothing, I was doing something that made my heart sing just thinking about it.

That is powerful. Which, of course, is why I wanted to share it. She’s a gift.

I’ve worked with Sam before…

In fact, three of us did, in our own ways.

Right about now, my Thai masseuse, Melissa, is having her wardrobe reconfigured by my very dear friend and fashion expert Sonja. There is nobody that I know better at this than Sonja, who knows how to field the inevitable question,

DOES THIS MAKE MY BUTT LOOK FAT?

Sonja isn’t just gracious. She is the single most informed person on fashion I know, and she is unbelievable at ripping out that stupid shit you and I impulse buy. She replaces those orphans with superb choices that don’t break the bank, and advises us on everything right up to the size and…

That depends. Here’s what it depends on.

If you sat too long this past year, things hurt and creak and crank, and suddenly you think that your hiking days or gym workouts are in the past, wait a New York minute. I’ve got two guys who might have some suggestions, because you’re in good company.

Keith Plummer, my jock chiropractor, cranked my neck gently to either side. It’s still stiff, but getting better. It rains a lot up here in Oregon, and I’m still recovering from having re-fractured a pinky toe. I don’t mind hiking in the rain, I do mind hiking in the rain AND re-injuring…

All I’m gonna do is share the link with a quick proviso.

This is one reason why I subscribe to Outside Online. A few years ago they got religion. Meaning, they realized that the future of the outdoors was female. Oh, and LGBTQ. Oh, and veteran. Oh, and disabled. I could go on. They still aren’t including women my age, but give it time.

To their immense credit, not only did they totally overhaul their editorial staff to be far more representative, when the inevitable trolls started writing in their complaints, they:

1. Printed the ugly letters
2. Invited the trolls to let the door hit them in the ass on the way out
3. …

and other powerful Black writers, and what that has meant for me this past year.

I didn’t clear this with Marley K. I hope she doesn’t mind that I am using her good name to make a few points, which I hope are important enough to attend. For I have attended Marley since last year, and in doing so that has been a deep investment in my own personal growth in ways that are sometimes hard to measure. I’ll try. But this isn’t just about Marley and her voice, it’s about all of us, in the larger sense. Stay with me here.

Some time ago I started reading Marley. For her fans, and I am…

And a few notes about what I’m learning so far

Early this morning I got a note from Illumination’s Dr Mehmet Yildiz to write about Newsbreak, so here goes.

Last night I rolled past the 1m impressions mark, with more than 46k page views and close to 800 followers. The chart of my analytics looks like a heart rate monitor of a guy who flatlined and on occasion, someone uses a defibrillator to revive him: