I recently discovered David Stewart, the founder of AGEIST, a media company championing the vitality, influence, and contributions of the modern 50-plus demographic. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Times, and Forbes.
From about age 40 on, our brains start to consider ourselves as “aging”. Around this time, we also start looking forward to “retiring”, or doing nothing, as the ultimate goal toward happiness.
The older we get, the more comfortable we’re trained. What’s the most comfortable chair? What’s the most comfortable environment for me? How is this hotel? Oh, first class? Oh, that’s very comfortable. So we’re trained to be directed towards this.
We need to push back against this. We need to do hard things. We did hard things when we were 16, when we were 18, age 25. We need to keep doing hard things. Hard things can be doing physically hard things, but it can also be, talk to somebody who’s completely different than us. Talk to somebody who has very different ideas from us. Start an organization, help people.
We learn by doing things, like cold showers and cold immersion. Physiologically, it also tells us, we didn’t die. We made it through. We can do this. There’s so much cultural noise out there that says that we can’t do it. That’s what I push back against. I say, we can do it.
You’re 40? There’s every probability you’re going to be alive for another 60 years, probably 70 years. So if I said to you, oh, at 60 these next 40 years of your life are useless, you’re not going to be able to do anything. Just give up. What kind of message is that?
The belief then determines the action.
First comes imagination, then comes some believing and some action, and then it’s self-fulfilling. So then you say like, oh, I did that. That’s amazing. I wonder what else I can do?
So we’ve sort of made this model of how to super age. There are five things.
- You’ve got to sleep. If you’re not sleeping, figure it out, because if you’re not, it’s going to sabotage anything else you do.
- What are you eating? I’m not going to prescribe a diet for everyone. Our genetics are different, our level of activities are different, our age, our biome. You need a diet that works for you, whatever kind of foods. If you’re a keto, you’re a vegan, you take all the supplements, whatever, figure it out.
- What are you doing to keep your stress levels down? Chronic stress is incredibly toxic…We need to have methods to deal with this. Is it walking with nature? Is it meeting with your friends? Do you like to dance? Do you have a religious practice? I don’t care what it is, but you need to do it.
- You need to have some sort of exercise plan. As we age, you need to be much more thoughtful about what you’re doing…You gotta keep challenging yourself. Walking around the mall for 10 minutes is not going to cut it.
Summer is a wonderful time to relax (or seek comfort) on the structure in our lives.
As our metabolisms slow each year, taking “a break” from exercise gets more and more risky. Even one pound makes a difference.
An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by a force
Music is an incredible force…Turn up the volume and JAM it OUT with us.
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