What a drag

Ugh…

My mother, like Mick Jagger, warned us what a drag it is getting old. While I’ve always appreciated that sentiment, when my mom advised, “Don’t get old”, I had to admit I didn’t really like the alternative. It’s not like I can get any younger, and the only way to discontinue aging would be to discontinue living.

Mick Jagger, that puckishly eternal sprite, has always been whip-thin and fit, no doubt from his regular diet and routine of incredible amounts of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. At 82, Jagger still seems pretty lively or, at the very least, alive. I doubt I could keep up with him. The last concert I went to left me aching in my feet and hips for days, presumably from standing for up to 90 minutes… in a row. It was exhausting. Which brings me to today. I still haven’t recovered from our move months ago. Both of my elbows seemed wrenched out of their sockets, one of my knees is playing fast and loose with gravity, and my back can’t decide if I should never straighten again or never bend again; staying at approximately a 15° angle is about as much as I can muster. The problem is I keep waiting to feel a bit better before I start exercising again, but this is a gamble because I’m starting to think that maybe this is it. Perhaps today is as good as I will ever feel, and by tomorrow I will feel just a little bit worse.

This, I assume, is called entropy. I’m unsure that I fully understand it. The only clear analogy I know is comparing a tidy room to a messy room. A tidy room is well-ordered and requires little energy to maintain. A messy room is, of course, very disorderly and requires the input of more energy to make it tidy. Even though nothing in the room changes, additional energy from outside the room is required to bring it from disorderly to orderly. If left unchecked, a messy room will continue to become messier and messier and require more added energy.

My body is like that messy room. I’ve always said my body is a temple. An ancient crumbling temple like the ones in Indiana Jones movies, harbouring spiders, snakes, mildew, bacteria, and probably some yet undiscovered virus that comes from bat guano. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to maintain this antediluvian structure, never mind repairing it. To tidy up this messy room inside this hoary warehouse is going to take a lot more input than when it was first constructed. A new building only needs some light dusting and maybe an occasional coat of paint. The vessel I call myself needs more than a few touch-ups. It is close to a complete tear-down and rebuild. Maybe I thought I could get away with new gutters and upgraded windows, but lately I’ve realized this temple needs a serious renovation. What does this remodelling look like? It means a renewed effort in healthy eating, prioritizing sleep, stretching, strengthening, and movement. Regular exercise is the biggest input of energy this system needs. Additional socializing and mindfulness would probably be good too, but we’ll begin with the basics. Let’s start by picking up the socks and underwear off the floor of this messy room inside this decrepit tomb I call my temple. I’ll get there. The finish line isn’t in sight yet. There are many rivers to cross, many mountains to climb before I make my way home to that shining citadel of my very well-ordered room. What a drag it is getting old.