Cindy,
You're speaking my language. This is the drum I bang full time. At 68, I do all kinds of extreme sports, long as they don't involve snow, although I've been in a blizzard at high altitude in the Himalayas.
There are quire a few folks out there who are not necessary super geezers who are doing pretty remarkable things, not because of their age, but because they are doing remarkable things period. We love to assign age AS IF we're just SO SHOCKED that granny can walk twelve miles. I am the reverse. I am repeatedly shocked that granny allowed society to talk her into giving up at 60 and that she can't walk twelve miles. It is widespread. And I regularly get attacked and shamed about not only my lifestyle as an adventure athlete but also insulted that I am just so lucky.
No, Sparky, I work my aging ASS off. I lift weights, run, ride, hike. I've been obese, and battled all kinds of things as we all have by this point. The issue isn't luck, it's Pluck. Forgive my French but fuck lucky, Cindy, we don't enter our elder years in tip top shape by some miracle of genes. Genes, in fact, are about 7% of the mix. The rest is up to us.
I spend a lot of time overseas in developing countries. Where I go, from African nations to Nepal to Cambodia and beyond old folks WORK. They are not confined to motorized chairs which have side pockets for packages of Cheetos and Oreos. There is labor to be done, and they are strong. I watched a Mongolian gramma pick up a 150 lb calf and lift the whole thing away from its momma because she needed to milk. You don't get that from sitting on your patootie watching reruns of Mayberry.
Some 30-ish twit on Medium who was living in the Philippines made a ridiculous comment about a 70 something who was on the street peddling a food cart. He said that person 'should be home in a chair.'
THAT is the problem. Not the guy peddling his food. The American moron opining that anyone over a certain age should be relegating to behind closed doors is the problem, and ANY of us who actually believes this nonsense.
Get out the way, Sparky, chances are, and I have seen it all over the world, you at thirty can't begin to keep up. While that may sound like bragging it's not. I write about what's happening to our bodies by thirty, our diabetes and obesity and lack of fitness, and research bears me out.
I recommend anything written by Dr. Robert Lustig, and also anything by Ashton Applewhite. You are hardly alone, Cindy. Plenty of us out here. Plenty. But you only see stories about super geezers because that changes the narrative, just like the narratives about other societal lies promoting hate and discord. Old folks being uber healthy and engaged doesn't sell drugs and motorized chairs.
I bought a home on a steep hill which requires that I hike, chop wood and schlep and stack that wood. I clear my own roof, and a lot more. AND I seek out oldsters like me who are similarly motivated. THAT is part of it, as is ensuring that I am surrounded by positive healthy engaged people who will not drink the corporate Koolaid.
While my love of bungee and sky diving and extreme jhorse riding might make me a bit of an outlier, there is no reason whatsoever that any one of us can't improve our health. You covered part of it here, but the overall picture is far more vast, including Big Pharma (polypharmacy) Big Food (crap food with crap chemicals and horrific side effects) and Big Health, all of which make NO money at all when you and I are vibrantly healthy. .That is why I write about this stuff.
Rock it, sis. Preach. The more of us who take hold of our health and stride out there, frizzy grey curls in the wind (that would be me), the more we disprove the lies. Some days I hurt all over. Some days I don't. But all days I exercise. And all days I eat Real Food, nothing processed, no sugar, no alcohol and none of the koolaid America likes to serve those of us over sixty.
This is not a slam against those who have legitimate disabilities (full disclosure I'm a 100% disabled veteran), it is a slam against a society that is full of age hate. Most of us, as long as we are mobile, can transform our lives by FIRST, changing what we eat, SECOND, moving more, THIRD, finding people of like mind to support us, and FOURTH finding a purpose and reason to get out of bed everyday. As you clearly stated, it begins between the ears. YOU CHOSE.
I have been absolutely delighted that every once in a while one of my readers will admit to having started a weight program or a fitness program, and they are righteously shocked at how much of a difference it makes. It's not about me-it's about what it did for THEM. That is why I do this. That right there is one of the biggest reasons I keep on doing this, because if I am willing to get out there and hurl my aging ass off a bridge in Croatia, someone else can locate their socks and tool around the parking lot. Thanks for this article, rant over. Delightful read and please, Keep. It. Up. the more the merrier.