Core Daily
One Small Change
The Art of Aging Gracefully
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The older I get, the less I want to acknowledge my birthday. Lord knows I don’t need any more sheet cake, novelty neckties, or embarrassing serenades from restaurant employees. I’d much rather treat it like just another day. But unfortunately that isn’t going to be possible this year because on August 26 I’ll hit (or, more accurately, be hit by) one of the biggest milestone birthdays of all: The Big Five-Oh.
I hope this confession surprises you. I hope you think I write way younger than I really am, and that my metaphors are hip. (Believe me, I work harder on them than Mariah Carey does on her cellulite.) But even if that’s not the case, I hope you’ll humor a soon-to-be old man by checking back periodically throughout the month as I conduct yet another experiment on myself.
Instead of making one small change in my life as I usually do and gauging whether it has any worthwhile effects, this time I’ll be trying to convince you (and, honestly, myself) that turning a year older is really the smallest, most inconsequential change of all.
If you watched the Tour De France, British Open or Beijing Olympics, you saw some amazing performances by Lance Armstrong (age 37), Tom Watson (59) and Dara Torres (41). And they weren’t just participants in some of the world’s premier events; they were contenders. Armstrong finished a strong third, Watson lost in a playoff, and Torres won three silver medals. (None of them is talking about retirement either.)
Although there is certainly some genetic magic at work, there is also a good measure of smart living and training. And that’s what I’ll be trying to get at: The specifics of how you and I can turn the proverbial march of time into a crawl and keep collecting athletic kudos and personal bests regardless of how old we get.
During the next few weeks, I’ll be chatting with various scientists and coaches who will help me better understand how an athlete’s body ages. I’ll also deliver some really useful tools, namely an Age-Defying Diet and an Age-Defying Workout that can benefit everyone.
Plus, later in the month, I’ll share with you my 50@50 list. This is a bucket list of things I will be trying to do in my 50th year like running a 10K in less than 50 minutes, doing 50 consecutive pushups, and dropping my cholesterol 50 points. The concept is applicable to any milestone year (30@30, 40@40…) in which you need to reaffirm yourself.
Hopefully, the things we learn along the way will give us all something to celebrate.
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About The Author
Joe Kita – Joe Kita is a noted writer, editor, motivational speaker and teacher. He authors the blog "One Small Change" for CorePerformance.com.
