Be a Warrior in your life!

It was once said by Bruce Lee ” it’s better to be a Warrior in the garden, then to be a gardener in the war ” As soon as I heard this, I thought about the warrior that we all should be for our health. We have the opportunity on a daily basis to make a decision on what we put in our mouth and what we do for our bodies each day.

Today am I going to wake up and have donut for breakfast or maybe oatmeal or maybe a good whole grain cereal. Should I park as close to the door as I can, or am I going to park out a way in the parking lot, so that I can get more steps in today?  We have to consciously make these decisions every day all day long.

It’s not a secret my family are mostly all overweight, we have heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis throughout my family. As my blog implies exploring life after 50. Many of us heard when we were younger, 50 years old is over the Hill; the golden years aren’t near as golden as they appear; when I wake up, I’m going to hurt because I am old. Another daily thought process must become am I going to live my life by these quotations that I’ve heard? Is 50 really over the hill for me? Are my golden years really not going to be golden? Do I have to hurt every morning when I get out of bed? I’m going to take each of these and discuss them, as if I were having this discussion with myself every morning.  

Is 50 really over the Hill? Is being over the hill really a bad thing?  Honestly, I don’t feel any older at 50 then I did at 49, 48, 47. I feel young, I feel I can do most things, I feel hungry for more education, experiences and life. So, to answer my question is 50 over the hill? Have I walked through that meadow and I’m now seeing that hill and climbing up or am I at the top, or sliding down the hill. I think I am still climbing, exploring new life experiences, life learning, love.

Are the golden years really not that golden? I hear this over and over again and unfortunately yes; our bodies are getting older even if our minds don’t particularly believe.  Yes, as we look as our population as a whole our health tends to decline over a time period this is where I go back to the initial saying of “it’s better to be a Warrior in the garden, then a gardener in the war”. If we take time every day and we ask ourselves the questions above am I going to walk a little farther today? Am I going to lift some light weights today? Am I going to do something for me today? I hope your answer is “yes” It’s in those times that I feel we are able to become that Warrior in our garden.  When our garden turns to a war of illness the healthier, the better fit we are prior to that illness the better we are able to take the reins and fight that illness. If we spend our lives being the gardener, we have a beautiful life. When that war comes, when our flowers are no longer blooming are, we prepared to fight that war? Be the warrior, be ready.

For the last question for the day do I have to hurt when I wake up? I’m sure we can all remember when we were young and as our parents or grandparents would get up from the bed in the morning or get up from a chair, they would moan or groan say ouch.  Remember thinking is that really going to be me some day. There are certain things in life that we are most likely not going to avoid especially if they’re in our family histories, osteoarthritis; Uncle author always outstays his welcome. While we’re probably going to have arthritis in some part of our body at some point in our lives, how are we going to deal with that period? I plan to deal with that by doing a few things, eating a better diet that lower in Inflammatory type foods.  Using exercise to stay as strong as I can. While there is not a cure for arthritis there are things that can make it feel better therefore by doing these 2 items, I can hopefully delay the discomforts and ouch that hurts a little while longer.  Of course, there are other ways to deal with the pain chiropractor treatments, acupuncture, physical therapy, medications.  However, the aches and pains will be there and we will have to tolerate what we can and control what is our wheelhouse to control.

I realize today’s posting is a little long especially for only answering 3 questions am I over the Hill, I’d say NO. Are the golden years really not that golden? I say mine are going to be golden as long as I have the mind and ability to believe there golden. And finally, do I really have to hurt when I get out of bed in the morning? Probably at some point but it’s my choice on how I handle that pain and what I do to try to alleviate that pain, and/or prolong the onset of that. My challenge for you is move forth in life today think about what it is that you can do to improve your life just one small way today.