We’ve all heard the expression, “you’re over the hill” or the humorous variation, “better over the hill than under it.” That analogy is wrong. It implies that once you are over the hill, there isn’t a heck of a lot that you can do about it. You’re just coasting toward the finish line. If you accept this idea the odds are good that your journey will be shorter and less fun than you would like.
Yes, there is a hill in life but there is no way of getting “over it”. It’s the hill of time. And like it or not the grade only gets steeper as we travel. It can’t be avoided but if you want the most out of life there’s a solution: Fight to Climb.
What does that mean? It means that as we age, we have to do more to maintain our health. When you’re twenty, your body is very forgiving. When you’re fifty, not so much.
It’s easy to pick out the fighters in a sea of loafers. Someone who sits at a desk all day long, eats fast food, keeps his supplements unopened in a drawer looks a lot older than his or her feisty counterpart. They are aging at two different rates. And you don’t have to be fifty to notice the difference. I know people in their mid thirties who can’t do a single push-up…but their Dad can.
There is no magic pill to slow down the aging process. There is only you and your determination to best Father Time at his own game. No matter what your age, NOW is the time to act. Get out and walk, go to a gym, take up a sport, take Omega 3 [fish oil] supplements, get adjusted, eat less processed food. This advice is hardly news. You’ve seen it all before on TV while you were munching on corn chips and swigging your Big Gulp, right?
The first thing you have to realize is that this fight to climb is a lifelong pursuit. You need to exercise regularly to maintain health and vitality. As we grow older that becomes even more important. Skipping a few workouts can result in a loss of strength and endurance for the middle-aged crowd. Sure, that stinks but those are the rules. You have to keep going, pushing yourself physically so that you don’t lose any ground on the hill of time. After all, don’t you want to be the old codger that runs circles around his grandkids?
Okay, are you ready to get started? Turn off the TV, throw out the chips, pour the soda down the sink and go for a walk. That’s a beginning.
