In search for truth, justice and the American
way, Pierini Fitness
always takes great delight in listening to elders for new pearls of wisdom in
his gracefully aging journey.
The late and great Tommy
Kono shared much wisdom with me in the many private
conversations we had during the last years of his life. One of my favorites was when he contrasted
the goals he was chasing at various points in his life. His verbal script was predictably the
same. He’d say how when he was younger,
he always tried to improve but once older, his goal was to maintain and then,
finally, as an elderly person, his goal was to survive.
So true and something I think about all the
time, although I’m not yet willing to be an official card-carrying member of
the survive club. Despite still spending
time in the improve club, honestly, I spend most of my time in the maintain
club. But my day will come, God willing,
where I’ll spend most of my time in survival mode and I’ll think of Tommy
Kono when in this time zone.
A recent conversation with an 81-year young client
gave me a new pearl of wisdom with something he said. I asked him how he was doing, and his reply
made me chuckle.
He said that he was getting gradually better
and worse about equally and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. What a clever and wordy reply that was more
fun to hear than saying he was doing the same.
His reply likely mirrors mine if asked the same question and I’m
rigorously honest, something I struggle with and maybe so do you. It acknowledges that despite my best efforts,
the net sum zero game truth is a powerful force in my middle-aged man
life.
Sure, I can make some gains here and there, but
chances are there are also losses of some type simultaneously taking place in
my life.
Is it better to face this obvious truth or
continue being in denial? Or, maybe
continue marching forward achieving some gains knowing that they’ll be greater
than the losses along the way. After
all, two steps forward and one step back is better than standing still.
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum
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