Getting Old Sucks

This is a guest post from my dear wife, who is approaching her 38th birthday.  She’s awfully happy about it, as you can tell…

Getting old sucks.  It hurts, physically, emotionally, mentally, it just hurts.

I will be 38 this Saturday.  I’m a wife to a crazy man and mother of three, yes three, wild boys.  I am also a certified Yoga and Zumba Instructor and ex-personal trainer.

I had a motorcycle wreck eighteen years ago and messed up my back and neck.  I have a bad ankle, bad knee, bad hip, and a bad wrist.  I suffer from migraine headaches, IBS, anxiety disorder, mitral valve prolapse and hypoglycemia.  I have had two concussions, that I know of,(I’ve been pretty rough on the old noggin) which could explain a lot.

Why getting old sucks…

Just getting up in the morning hurts some days.  The muscles scream, “no dummy, why do you torture us so, get your old butt back in bed?!”  But, I’ve always been a rebel, so I get up anyway.

I’m always trying to lose those “last few pounds”.  I make healthy choices.  I drink plenty of water, monitor my consumption of protein, fiber, good fats, bad fats, limit my sweets, don’t drink sodas, don’t smoke, only have a glass of wine occasionally, and still the last few pounds remain.  Still, the body hurts.  Still I’m exhausted by the end of the day.

While I was watching T.V this evening a commercial for Dominoes came on.  There before me was a beautiful display of mouth watering fat laden sub sandwiches. I’m so hungry. I’m always hungry these days.  And I wondered, “will I ever know what one of those tastes like?”  Now don’t get me wrong, I splurge.  But it’s usually for things like chocolate.  We make the sacrifices we can.  I can’t completely sacrifice chocolate and maintain what little sanity I have left.  So, will I ever know the satisfaction of a fullness that only a sandwich containing at least a hundred grams of fat can give you? I went to the kitchen and poured a bowl of Multi Grain Cheerios, 110 cal.  Per cup.  Dry.  As I stood there crunching my somewhat tasty but unfulfilling O’s I wondered, “why?”  Why do I do this to myself.  My little devil starts talking to me, “If I’m going to get old and die, why not enjoy life more now?  Why don’t I just eat what I want, stay in bed, drink more wine, drink some sodas, not even think about nutritional content?  I’m doing my best to be healthy and I’m still getting old, it still hurts, and it still sucks…really bad!  Eat the sub, eat the burgers and pizzas, eat it all!”  Then my little good angel pipes up “eat your cardboard and shut up”.  Even my little good angel is a smart ass.

So, I finished my cardboard and continued to ponder my dilemma.  Here’s the thing.  Quality of life.  Would I have a better quality of life eating and drinking to my hearts content, watching the television, instead of exercising?  No.

Yes, we are all going to get old and die. It’s not a question of if but when and how. All we can do is try to improve the quality of life we have while we’re here. Now, sometimes genetics are against us and a marathon runner could drop dead of a heart attack at the age of 40.  No, not fair.  But how did he feel while he was here?  What was the quality of life he had?  If he hadn’t tried he would have felt awful while he was here and might have died even sooner.

As I stated earlier, I’m a rebel.  My husband would have another word for it.  But I’m not going down without a fight.  I want to have the best quality of life I can while I’m here.  I want to be with my family as long as I can and be able to enjoy them, and them enjoy me.

getting old