be your own health champion
You are the only person who really understands you. This also means that you and only you have full responsibility for your own health. Within some common sensibilities- don’t smoke, stay strong, avoid trans fats- there is no one size fits all prescription. It is up to each of us to understand what works and what doesn’t, and to accept that what is working today may change tomorrow.
Getting older and being responsible is a lot of work. Not only do we have to do all the things necessary to stay on our game, keep our bodies going, and our social lives active- we also have to spend considerable time and energy solving the puzzle of exactly what this means. This is no easy matter. Just listening to a single doctor, reading a diet book or following up on whatever lifestyle last night’s Uber driver recommended for you is not going to do it. Life is about learning. The learning needs to be followed up with action. Life is not a passive experience if we want a life that is long and rich. This doesn’t just happen accidentally- we need to make it happen.
Which comes back to personal responsibility. Own your age, own your experience and own your health decisions. We have fantastic brains, great will power and drive. Let’s use them. Aging does not have to be some grim reality. Yes there will be an end point, but that doesn’t mean that we have to accept the sort of decline and decay that is often portrayed. We can live vivid vital forward looking lives far into advanced age, but it requires wanting it, and doing something about it. Learn how to eat, learn how to stay strong, make a habit of helping others, have purpose- it’s not all that difficult.
