My trainer is on vacation so I met with another one of his clients to workout tonight. We're both at about the same level, and Mr. Trainer has taught us both how to spot. It was good. I was telling him about my Existential Omigosh (aka yesterday's journal entry). As I was explaining it to him I think I was finally able to put my finger on the central issue that was troubling me about aging, namely: What losses do we HAVE to accept? Hairline, hearing acuity, the ability to read the date on a penny without a telescope, teeth? To be brutally blunt, I suppose Death is the ultimate loss about which we have no choice. Short of that, there are inevitable losses on the way. I only have to observe my octogenarian parents to see the reality of that truth. AND, I confess, to put it that way is to lose sight of the gains that come from having eight decades of life experience. That aspect of it, however, is not what was getting my attention yesterday. It's actually a bit of a relief to have found the words for what was bugging me.
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I think the answer to that one is as little as we wish. I\'ll try and explain. Given a bit of good fortune i.e. a good genetic inheritance for longevity we can to a large extent choose what we lose. Most symptoms of ageing are identical with those of malnutrition so diet is very important. Exercise is too to keep muscle and bone-loss at bay. Some limited presbyopia is inevitable however and although B vits help the hairline they are not always 100% successful. My parents are 80 and 84 and were in great shape until a few years ago when my Father developed severe Alzheimer\'s and their libido still is good. So I think we can choose how much we age to a great extent by our choices in diet and lifestyle and having a consuming passion that you will follow till you drop(like me and painting) helps. I am a bit older than you and am really looking forward to the next 30 years (and am also doing a lot of anti-Alzheimers activities!). The gains or losses bit is also attitudinal. I am a glass half -full person and almost insanely optimistic. I was given about six months to live when I was 28 and ten years to live at birth so it is all gravy to me!
Ah, yes. In the end we loose everything, even ourselves. THat I understnad well, something I too learned from my parents. SImply put, it\'s terrifying... Inevitable, and I dont even want to think about it because death is my greatest fear and I can already feel the panic attack comming on as I write this.
I try to view it not as a loss, but as an evolution, not a growth but a state of flux and reconfiguration, a constant becomming. Can people loose thingsa as they go, ofcourse. As we get older we loose many things, innocence being the first. But we always have ourselves right up to the final, and as long as we hold to that we survive. I thing my father realised this towards the end, that what he had lost wasnt a loss, but a shift. Loss emplies concistancy, regularity, and some thingsa about us never change...