Airport Conversations

Growing up in the 70’s, in a small rural town in Ohio, meant we had a party line for our telephone system. Younger readers may not comprehend this, but it means several homes on our street all belonged to the same telephone line. You could pick up the receiver, at any given moment, and hear others talking on the phone. I loved it! I think that’s when it started - my nosiness problem. If my childhood neighbors Peg and Sylvia are reading this, the adult me would like to apologize. I’m sorry. I like to think of myself as “curious,” but Dan will often catch me eaves dropping on conversations occurring around us, and tells me to stop being so nosey. Often, I just can’t help myself! 

Recently, I overhead surrounding conversations while sitting at an airport. I consider this type of situation fair game, if said eavesdropping conversation occurs in an open public location. We were in Ohio awaiting a flight back to Savannah. There were two groups of women discussing life, health, and aging. I found the two distinctive conversations quite fascinating. Both groups of women appeared to be the same age range of around mid to late 60’s. 

The women behind me were complaining about aging, talking about all the various aches and pains they experience. One of them went into great detail describing all of her woes of how horrible getting older is. They seemed to feed off each other, with each story progressively worse than the last. I couldn’t help but notice that some of them were eating hotdogs smothered in fake cheese from the food stand in the corner. They were also crunching on bags of chips and drinking regular Cokes. 

The ladies across from me were the exact opposite. They all were talking about how excited they were to play golf when they got to their destination. They were discussing their new golf apparel in case of wet weather, as to not allow any rain to interfere with their golf game. There was discussion about all the fun activities they have planned, including a new Zumba class they must check out. They were drinking water instead of Cokes. Clearly, their aging experience is quite different from the group of gals behind me. I couldn’t help but think who I want to be more like as I continue to age! 

Upon arriving home later that same day, I discovered I received questions from Lou, a reader in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The irony of finding these questions, just hours after hearing the two earlier conversations, was not lost on me! Lou wants to know my mindset about fitness. She is curious what I do for fitness, and more importantly, what I think about fitness and aging. She asks if I ever have thoughts wondering if I’m too old or what’s the use. She also wants to know how I convince myself to workout every single day. 

476 days ago, I made a promise when I took my journey public. The promise was a commitment to myself to workout at least one hour every single day. I’m proud to say I’ve kept that promise. Everyday I’ve done some sort of physical activity for at least an hour. It varies from walking, riding a bike, lifting weights, the elliptical, or some combination of things. There are times I’ve done workout videos on YouTube if weather prevented me from doing something else. The point is to move, period. I try to push myself but sometimes just getting through the hour is all I can do, and that’s okay. Somedays it’s longer than an hour. Somedays my workouts aren’t about losing weight or building muscles. Somedays it’s just therapy. Somewhere along this path the reason changed from appearance to feeling. I want to feel better and have a higher quality of life as I get older. Case in point, the airport eavesdropping conversations! 

Years ago, when I was a young girl starting out in the corporate world, an older coworker gave me great advice. She told me to start moisturizing my eyelids, because they’ll start to unexpectedly get wrinkly, and she gave me a book. The book was about how to develop your own yoga practice in 20 days. It was published in the 70’s and the pictures proved it. The very first page contained a quote that read, “You’re only as young as your spine is flexible.” That’s stuck with me over the years. Although I never fully got into yoga, this quote has been a constant reminder that we must stay active as we age. 

It’s no surprise that studies reveal physical activity helps maintain the ability to live independently as you get older. It reduces the risk of falling and fracturing bones. Additional medical benefits include a reduced risk of dying from coronary heart disease, developing high blood pressure, colon cancer, and diabetes. There’s an impressive study from this past March of 2018, at the University of Birmingham, regarding how a lifetime of regular exercise slows down the aging process. They compared a group of older people, who’ve exercised all their lives, compared to a group of similarly aged adults and younger adults who do not exercise regularly. This study showed those who exercised regularly have defied the aging process. The results indicated those who exercised on a regular basis have the immunity, muscle mass, and cholesterol levels of a young person! I think that’s how God intended it to be. He tells us our body is a temple. 

Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God. 

1 Corinthians 6:19 

It’s never too late to start working out. It’s never too late to start moving. If not now, when? It’s all about your mindset. Mindset is everything. Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it. Keep in mind that you are a work in progress. You might not be where you want to be, but you’re not where you used to be. Jim Rohn said, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” I forced myself to work out every day in the beginning but now it’s a habit. I may not always feel like it, but it’s a habit, and I must! I like how I feel and I like how I look. I refuse to go back to the way it was before. You can’t expect to see a change if you don’t make a change. Fred Devito said, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” It’s the difference of which airport conversation you want to have in your future. The complaining achy old lady conversation or the vital, joyful, and active conversation?

Results for the week: -0.5 lbs lost; Total Lost: 42.5

D.O.W. = 476; Starting weight: 182.0; Current weight: 139.5

(Days on the Wagon = Days of food sobriety - no sugar pig-outs!)