Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Time solves all riddles


Recently I spent time assessing where I’m at in my fitness department by thinking about how my current fitness performance compares to what I was doing in the previous decade of my middle-aged man life.  While being mindful that comparison is the thief of joy, I nonetheless found great delight fondly recalling some of the fitness things I was doing a decade ago.

Admittedly, my current fitness performance is at a lower level than a decade ago, but decent, I judge, for a 64-year old middle-aged man.  Out of curiosity, I pondered how it might compare to what I’ll be doing, God willing, when I become an old man, which I’ve previously defined as beginning when I turn ago 70. 

It’s fair to say that whatever I’ll be doing as an old man will probably be less than what I’m currently doing as a seasoned middle-aged man.  This is the realization of aging if making an apple to apple comparison. 

While some men might achieve greater fitness levels as an old man than they had as a middle-aged man, it’s probably only if their middle-aged man fitness was lower in relation to maximum potential than what it is as an old man.   If this is the case, then the apple to apple comparison benchmark isn’t met. 

Comparing a middle-aged man fitness slug with a fitness rating of 4 on a scale of 1 to 10 to an old man fitness superstar with a fitness rating of 8 on the same scale of 1 to 10 isn’t an apple to apple comparison.

Where am I now on this mythical scale?  For lack of knowing for sure, I’ll self-assess that I have a fitness rating of 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being my hypothetical maximum fitness potential.

Where might I be on this mythical scale when I’m in old man land less than six years from now?

Time will tell, God willing, because time solves all riddles.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

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