Hey, hey, hey!
We are interrupting our ALL FALL, ALL THE TIME content for a little…
(Who am I kidding, of course, I posted a FALL RECIPE today too 🙂 ).
I am who I am.
Alrighty, today on this post though, we’re going to chat about USE IT OR LOSE IT.
This is one of those phrases I feel like I’ve heard and/or read many, many, many times over the last few years as I’ve focused more on my own health and wellness. Now, full disclaimer, let me be very clear…I understand that some who are reading this have been involved in accidents and/or received diagnosis that have caused you to lose it. Full stop. You had zero control over it and your life is changed. I do not want to, in any way, minimize that and/or make it sound like we are telling those of you dealing with persistent/chronic/unfortunate situations that you need to use it or lose it. Not at all. Okay? We fully understand you didn’t mean to “lose it”.
This post is for the rest of us. Those of us who have the opportunity/option to use it or lose it every day.
Because I listen to a lot of health podcasts and read a lot of wellness books, I’m often thinking about *things* I do in my day to day life that I don’t ever want to stop doing (or at least I don’t want to stop doing those things shy of my 90s). These are skills/habits/functions/abilities that I currently have and want to keep. These are things that I know that if I stop using, I’ll probably “lose”. Make sense?
I made a little list of things I better use or I might lose and then I hope you’ll share your list too! I am positive you’ll have things on your list that I didn’t think of…but that I want to add to my list too.
The real inspiration behind my blog post?
My grandparents!
Let’s just take this photo for example. I did the math and at the time of this photo, my grandmother was 85 years old and holding my 2½ year old while standing up. I want to be able to do that when I’m 85. She and my grandfather (who was 87 in this photo) were living independently in their own home and driving at the time of this photo too. They were making all of their own meals, doing all of their own house work/laundry/dishes (they never had a dishwasher or garbage disposal), tending to their front and back gardens, going to church, playing the piano, out for daily walks (he was running 3+ miles a day until about 85), paying their own bills, decorating for holidays, buying their own gifts and sending out cards. All of these things are skills I do not want to “lose”. Here’s another one…
…this photo was taken when my paternal grandmother and Andrew went to a Rangers/Yankee game when she was 87. I mean, minus the stupid Rangers and terrible Yankees, I want to be 87 and able to go to a ballpark for a game. I’m just shy of 45 right now and the thought of driving to a stadium, parking, walking to the stadium, walking into the stadium and up through the concourse and finding my seat, and then sitting through 9 innings of baseball sounds exhausting. Imagine being able to do it at 87?! She never stopped which must have contributed to why she still could.
And then there is this lady…
…that’s just my maternal grandmother casually sitting by the lake on the ground at 86 like it’s no big deal to get down and then back up on concrete by herself.
I mean…GOALS, people.
And then later that year…
…she’s shopping with me on Nantucket 🙂 . At 86, she was still traveling. Getting from Dallas to Nantucket is never simple…and yet, she did it like a pro.
I mentioned this when I blogged about that visit, but at one point, I came home, and she had made breakfast and was vacuuming. And I’m pretty sure she folded a load of towels too. She was not just a guest…she was an ACTIVE guest…at 86.
So needless to say, I have been blessed with oodles of inspiration on both sides of my family and would like to carry that on myself as well. I have seen with my own eyes that all three of those grandparents literally “used it so they wouldn’t lose it”. My maternal grandmother is almost 90 and still lives on her own. What a wonderful, wonderful thing.
So, here below is my little list. I am focused on “using” these skills as long as I can so that I don’t lose them. Some, I will certainly probably not be able to do until I’m 100, but I want to be able to do them as long as I possible can. I hope you share your list too!
In no particular order (and certainly this isn’t everything), here are 21 things I always try to *use* so I don’t *lose*…
#1: GO FROM SITTING TO STANDING ON THE FLOOR WITHOUT HOLDING ON TO ANYTHING
#2: EASILY AND COMFORTABLY BEING ABLE TO BIKE
#3: BEING ABLE TO RUN AT LEAST 2 MILES
#4: BEING ABLE TO LIFT AND PLACE MY LUGGAGE IN THE OVERHEAD COMPARTMENT ON A PLANE
#5: WALK UP AND DOWN STAIRS WITHOUT HOLDING ON TO THE RAIL
#6: SWIM LAPS IN THE POOL
#7: CARRY MY OWN ITEMS FROM THE CAR TO THE BEACH AND BACK
#8: OPEN JARS
#9: CARRY, CLIMB, AND USE A LADDER
#10: DRIVE IN INCLEMENT WEATHER
#11: PRACTICE YOGA
#12: LIFT DUMBBELLS THAT ARE AT LEAST HALF MY BODY WEIGHT
#13: JUMP ON THE TRAMPOLINE
#14: SOLVE SUDOKU PUZZLES/WORD PROBLEMS
#15: KEEPING UP WITH TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
#16: CARRY HEAVY THINGS (LIKE PUMPKINS OR LUGGAGE) TO/FROM MY CAR AND LOAD AND/OR UNLOAD
#17: PICK UP AND CARRY SMALL CHILDREN
#18: BASIC HOME REPAIR (BEING ABLE TO HANG ART, PAINT A WALL, CLEAN A RUG, ETC)
#19: STAND ON ONE FOOT
#20: BEING ABLE TO BEND OVER AND/OR REACH UP HIGH
#21: STANDARD STRENGTH SKILLS: PUSHUPS, SIT UPS, LUNGES, PLANK, ETC
Okay, now I want to know what would be on YOUR LIST!
Do you think about these things? I certainly do. I always think to myself things like “I better run two miles just so I don’t stop being able to run two miles”, etc.
I would love to know your thoughts too.
Today, as we look at pumpkins, drink pumpkin spice lattes, and watch Hocus Pocus, maybe we can do it while balancing on one foot?
(See? I have this amazing ability to incorporate fall into any blog post. 😉 )
Happy Wellness Wednesday, friends! Let’s all try to do something today we don’t want to one day lose!
I’ll see you back here tomorrow. xx
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