“As for old age,” Seneca said, “embrace and love it. It abounds with pleasure if you know how to use it.”
Knowing how to use it is the important part. That takes a lot of thought and consideration.
It means understanding how to understand this new sense of time, space, and body. This is what determines just how happy and fulfilling these years can be for me. In our money-centered, distracting, disconnected, and work-driven society, few people ever know about the riches and freedom of being older. There is space now and time.
For me, having less time ahead of me means using the time I have wisely and thoughtfully. I am using my own experience to help other younger people whenever I can. This is rewarding beyond words. It gives my life purpose and meaning. I only help when asked and then carefully.
There is, for me, a sense of freshness and wisdom in these years that speaks a new language to my heart.
I was at physical therapy today to work on recovering from drop foot, which had occurred due to a back issue. It has improved greatly. While doing an exercise that I could have done easily before my back surgery, I began to think of what I used to be. I used to be a rock climber, a skier, someone who did winter camping and ice climbing. For a brief time, I felt regret that those things are now in my past. I was focused on being a “used to be.” However, I then thought about how wonderful it was to have all of those experiences in my life. I will never regret having done them. But I am also looking forward to the activities that I will continue to do in a few months, when I recover. I can enjoy bird watching and photography regardless of my drop foot. I will ride my horse again. I will go for long walks with my dog. Maybe even get back to swimming. I decided that I will continue to have wonderful activities, they will just be different activities. When I reach the end, I will have certainly lived an interesting and engaging life.
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