When You Feel 35, But You're Not

Take Pen to Paper: Edition 89

Jun 06, 2024

Hi friends!

There comes a point in time when you try to do something you used to be able to do, and discover you can’t do it. Then you wonder when you lost the ability.

This happens so often with physical abilities. Because we tend to be more active in the summer, with vacations and outings, it’s a prime time to discover a sad truth about yourself.

In this newsletter:

The gift of youth.
Aging is a fact of life.
Two options.

Being Young and the Gift of Stamina

Healthy children naturally have the physical stamina to go. They can go all day and still want to stay up past their bedtime. Thankfully parents usually know better.

I remember being shooed out of the house on summer days to play outside until the dark drove us in. We would break for lunch, maybe an afternoon snack, and then supper.

This was before cable TV and video games. We had no reason to stay inside unless the weather was bad. We would venture back out after supper for a rousing neighborhood game of Kick the Can.

We never gave our ability to keep going a second thought. We always had the energy to go and do.

We All Age

Today, I was listening to an interview with Vera Wang. She was asked how her personal style has evolved as she has aged. Her answer was to share what she learned from Coco Chanel.

“What you look like is god given; as you age, it’s how you’ve lived.”

Of course, she was talking about fashion, but isn’t that true for many of our physical abilities?

The stamina of our youth does not last forever. What comes naturally as a child is more difficult as an adult.

I certainly felt the effects on my trip to Washington, D.C., last weekend (May 30, 2024 Pen to Paper). After walking in the heat, by suppertime I was beat. My granddaughter was still running around playing with her friend. I was even exhausted the following day.

That’s part of aging. Even with daily walks of two or more miles and a generally active lifestyle, I would have to work a lot harder to feel physically like I was 35. It doesn’t matter what my brain tells me.

Now I see I should have worked harder since I was 35. I could have lived a life to maintain more stamina. There’s really no good excuse, except for when I broke my ankle ten years ago. Health-wise, I’ve been fortunate.

Your Two Options

At my age it’s easy to reflect and see the error of my ways. The truth is your two options are use it or lose it.

The difficulty lies in how the loss can happen slowly. You’ve been laying off your usual activity. Maybe you’ve become a little lazy or just think you don’t need to practice. Then, one day, you think you’ll have no problem with an activity, you try it, and it’s an epic fail.

Once it’s lost, it's even harder to get it back!

We used to play a trick at slumber parties in which we stood on an ironing board with eyes closed and balanced with one foot in front of the other to see how high our friends could lift it before we fell off. In reality, the ironing board was only lifted an inch, but it felt much higher. When you fell, you weren’t falling far.

Forget the wobbly ironing board. Try balancing with one foot in front of the other with your eyes closed, or balance on one foot and look from left to right several times. Actions that were simple for children are now much harder or impossible.

You would be proud of me. Remember a few months ago when I confessed to my intense dislike of weight training (Pen to Paper Jan. 5 2024)? Well, I’m doing it three or four days a week. I know I won’t be like I was at 35 or 45, but my choice is to work to gain stamina or lose more.

I even broke down and invested a little money to help me reach my goals. Why not take advantage of expert knowledge, not to mention the motivation of getting my money’s worth?

We are worth the investment of physical (and mental) stamina, whether it’s time or money.

7 Days, 7 Thoughts on Gratitude and Good:

The picture above is of my youngest granddaughter exploring a playground. At 2, she’s still a one-nap-a-day child, which gives the adults time to rest.
A quote: “Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.” -Walt Disney
I’m grateful for the physical and mental stamina I have maintained. Aging throws enough at you without our actions, or lack of, adding to those problems.
It’s good to ask for help (possibly pay for help) with meeting your goals. I enjoyed my friend Danny’s thoughts on getting a coach. Why do we always think we can do things without help?
It’s good to remember that the progress you make with small steps is part of your journey. Take your time.
It’s good to know your limitations and seek expert advice before trying new activities or activities you haven’t done in years, decades even.
Speaking of aging, as a female I’m glad this story is about a flamingo and not me.

Thank you for reading. This week, take time to think about what you could do to increase your physical stamina.

Until next time,

💚

Susan

What are the best improvement steps you’ve taken? In case you haven’t notice, I love reading about self-improvement, so leave a comment and tell me about it.

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