STRIVING
What about the general attitude concerning lifestyle which we seem to be so intent on maintaining? We have set up standards by which we judge if we are living proper and normal lives.
Even as we do so, I think, we accept the idea that a “normal” life is and of little interest and certainly not worthwhile.
Being "healthy" is , to some extent, feeling good about ones self. How we feel about ourselves is not often critical, but it can be costly if we have an unmerited opinion of our own worth. It can be overdone and used as a crutch to hold up a body which is all but dead in one sense of the word.
Pretending we are someone whom we do not even try to be, is a mistake and results in personal troubles for us and for others about us as well.
It is a common place hazard for many of us. There are people who constantly dwell on feeling sorry for themselves and they compile larger and longer lists of things that seem to be wrong and adjust the rest of their lives - and yours - to fit that pattern they have contrived. Physical illness seems to be a favorite and conditions and circumstances are beyond classification. Some dwell on exotic, tropical maladies while others harken back to the olden days and re-take things their grandmothers are supposed to have had.
Actual pain and suffering become real to these people and they do, indeed, suffer marked discomfort, especially as they either "treat" the condition from which they suffer or refuse to do so. Some demand the attention of every doctor in sight while others decry the low standards of today's medical profession and go their own herbal way.
The problem seems, to me, to have worsened in recent years, too. or, it may be that I am at that age when one thinks more about dying. I have heard to expressions concerning thinking well recently: "I plan to live forever. So far - so good!" ...and the other had something to do with the word "immortality" but the twist on it escapes me for the moment. Another one: "Each morning when I wake up, I read the obituaries and if my name isn't in them - I get dressed."
Striving to live longer takes a sense of humor, I suppose. George Burns tried it, and Bob Hope is right in there trying. That's stance - that attitude, is I think, an important part of living. Excesses or all types are best avoided, I'm sure and healthy exercise routines must be used on a regular basis. Pain - real or imaginary - leads to inactivity and that, in turn leads to sedentary habits and the physical side of the body wastes away in disuse. It is slow suicide and millions of people die because of it.
Far too many of us fall victim to our own laziness in this phase of our later years. Get with it. Find yourself a personal "matra" which symbolizes what you want to be, then strive to fill in the details which make it a true picture of who our really are.
Typical of it all, I am absolutely positive as I sit here on my cushioned chair and touch keys which write all this down for me - even check the spelling - as I “work” in tiresome comfort and pontificate on the subject. Where are you, at this precise moment?
So often, you see it is not others who are doing or, not doing all of this sort of thing - it's us.
A.L.M. June 3, 2003 [c563wds]
