DARE to be 100
There was a time when the catch phrase was "paradigm shift". Do you remember this? I don't know if it was just in my little bubble or if it was a trend in the business world too. At any rate, those words seemed to pop up everywhere I went. A paradigm, as I understood it way back in my teenage mind, is an established set of rules or a way of thinking. Reading the book Dare to Be 100 resulted in a serious paradigm shift for me.
The basic premise of the book is that we have the physical capability to live to be one hundred years old, but most of us assume that because our parents died at a certain age, that we'll die at the same age. If our grandparents set the pattern in the generation before, it solidifies that fact; if they died at 72 and our parents died at 72, we'll die at 72. Not so, says the good doctor, Walter M Bortz, II. http://www.walterbortz.com/daretobe100.htm With all kinds of research to back himself up, the rest of the book lays out a plan for how to extend your life well past your genetic map and enjoy the second half of your life as much as the first. **Bear in mind, this is written from a secular worldview and merits no credit in regard to God's plan. I'm simply emphasizing making the best of the life God gives us.
What struck me with marked clarity was the way he segmented life.
Childhood and School Years
Childbearing, Raising Children, and Work
Retirement
Now, in our society, the first two segments are the fruit bearing times and retirement signifies check-out. In the beginning, it is enjoyable and restful but quickly the retiree begins to detach physically and emotionally, leading to compromises in their health and eventually long-term care and/or death. With this perspective, you are looking at 30-40 years after retirement which allows you to dictate what happens day in and day out in your world.
You see, I live in a small world with a lot of people to distract me from life on the other side of the these four walls. I wake up running: get a bottle, get the baby, change the baby, make breakfast for Leila. Greet Tre, answer thirty-nine questions for Tre. Iron clothes for Dale, wake the K, J, and M up for the school. "Eat your breakfast, brush your teeth, straighten your room, get out your workbooks. Sit down! Stop yelling! Take a break while I start this laundry." Make lunch, clean up lunch, little ones down for naps, big ones finish school. Clean up school, start dinner, get dressed for track. Straighten up house, go to track. Feed dinner, clean up dinner, bathe little ones, devotions, put little ones to bed, clean straighten up house, one game of cards, big ones to bed, stare mindlessly at TV, read for a few minutes, bedtime prayers, and a plea for a full nights sleep. Basically, these are my days. I'm not bragging, but they're pretty much awesome.
So the shift came in seeing my life as a big picture. This is why Marley and Me had such an impact on me; it gave me a visual to back up the intellectual transformation that was happening. Instead of seeing the minute-by-minute daily grind, I caught a glimpse of how short this season really is. We've extended the season moderately by having children every other year, but still, in light of a forty year retirement, this ain't nothing.
Knowing this part isn't forever makes it a little less burdensome. I love it, but it is exhausting. It also makes it a little easier to be nice. Someday I'll reap the rewards for all this hard work.
Here's the other thing, if I am going to live that long, I need my body to hold up for that long because I don't want to retire and move into long-term care. I've been to that circus and I'm not looking to move in. Ever. It makes me rethink the ho-ho and go for the apple. I'm making more time to read and less time to stare mindlessly at anything. I'm inspired to run again. The good doctor recommends one hour, three times a week, to keep yourself in shape. That, I can do, and am doing. So look out world, I'm sticking around for a while.
The basic premise of the book is that we have the physical capability to live to be one hundred years old, but most of us assume that because our parents died at a certain age, that we'll die at the same age. If our grandparents set the pattern in the generation before, it solidifies that fact; if they died at 72 and our parents died at 72, we'll die at 72. Not so, says the good doctor, Walter M Bortz, II. http://www.walterbortz.com/daretobe100.htm With all kinds of research to back himself up, the rest of the book lays out a plan for how to extend your life well past your genetic map and enjoy the second half of your life as much as the first. **Bear in mind, this is written from a secular worldview and merits no credit in regard to God's plan. I'm simply emphasizing making the best of the life God gives us.
What struck me with marked clarity was the way he segmented life.
Childhood and School Years
Childbearing, Raising Children, and Work
Retirement
Now, in our society, the first two segments are the fruit bearing times and retirement signifies check-out. In the beginning, it is enjoyable and restful but quickly the retiree begins to detach physically and emotionally, leading to compromises in their health and eventually long-term care and/or death. With this perspective, you are looking at 30-40 years after retirement which allows you to dictate what happens day in and day out in your world.
You see, I live in a small world with a lot of people to distract me from life on the other side of the these four walls. I wake up running: get a bottle, get the baby, change the baby, make breakfast for Leila. Greet Tre, answer thirty-nine questions for Tre. Iron clothes for Dale, wake the K, J, and M up for the school. "Eat your breakfast, brush your teeth, straighten your room, get out your workbooks. Sit down! Stop yelling! Take a break while I start this laundry." Make lunch, clean up lunch, little ones down for naps, big ones finish school. Clean up school, start dinner, get dressed for track. Straighten up house, go to track. Feed dinner, clean up dinner, bathe little ones, devotions, put little ones to bed, clean straighten up house, one game of cards, big ones to bed, stare mindlessly at TV, read for a few minutes, bedtime prayers, and a plea for a full nights sleep. Basically, these are my days. I'm not bragging, but they're pretty much awesome.
So the shift came in seeing my life as a big picture. This is why Marley and Me had such an impact on me; it gave me a visual to back up the intellectual transformation that was happening. Instead of seeing the minute-by-minute daily grind, I caught a glimpse of how short this season really is. We've extended the season moderately by having children every other year, but still, in light of a forty year retirement, this ain't nothing.
Knowing this part isn't forever makes it a little less burdensome. I love it, but it is exhausting. It also makes it a little easier to be nice. Someday I'll reap the rewards for all this hard work.
Here's the other thing, if I am going to live that long, I need my body to hold up for that long because I don't want to retire and move into long-term care. I've been to that circus and I'm not looking to move in. Ever. It makes me rethink the ho-ho and go for the apple. I'm making more time to read and less time to stare mindlessly at anything. I'm inspired to run again. The good doctor recommends one hour, three times a week, to keep yourself in shape. That, I can do, and am doing. So look out world, I'm sticking around for a while.
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