An epiphany, of sorts

I was stopped at a traffic light the other day on my way home from work when an older man, I would guess in his late 70’s to early 80’s, went flying past my car. No, he wasn’t the victim of a traffic accident, he was WALKING – and at quite a determined little clip, too.

I looked at him (for the brief moment that I could before he totally blew by me) and was so impressed that this man who, at his age, could quite easily be sitting around feeling sorry for himself and whining about how it sucks to get old, was instead taking life by the horns and basically saying, “screw you, life…I refuse to go down without a fight”.

The ability to get from point A to point B on my own power is something I tend to take for granted. I think as we grow older and less active, we like to heave the big, resigned sigh and blame our creaking bones and decreasing mobility on the normal effects of aging. But is it?

Do we stop exercising because of age, or do we age because we stop exercising? (Wow, that sounded kind of Carrie Bradshaw-ish…please accept my apologies)

I have long ignored advice to practice daily exercise because exercise is not an activity I enjoy. Okay, I hate it. However, the sight of that one single man on the street that day did more to increase my resolve to exercise – and learn to like it - than all the books and articles in the world ever could. Because I realized it isn’t all about appearance.

Whenever I think I’ll put off exercise until a tomorrow that never comes, I’m going to think of that man and how he learned the value of exercise - a lesson that will allow him to LIVE the rest of his life, instead of just surviving it.

Seeing is believing, baby. Use it or lose it.