Don’t blink or you will miss the official entry to senior citizenship: enrollment in Medicare. If you thought getting your AARP card was a declaration of old age, you were wrong. That was a declaration that you were approaching old age. Medicare enrollment makes it official!
And yet, many of us are racing into our senior years finally throwing off the social rules that have ensnared us for most of our lives. We grew up KNOWING that only Bridgitte Bardot figures should wear revealing swim suits, but many of us have finally become comfortable enough with our imperfect shapes to buy our first bikinis in our 60s. Our grandmothers pulled out their gray hairs until they were almost bald and now I am seeing women who are resigned to silver hair and they look magnificent!
What other social shackles can we throw off that have kept us unhappy and dissatisfied? What can we do to make ourselves feel better, stronger and more in control of our lives? If we are only as old as we feel, how do we help ourselves feel better?
Wellness is a required objective these days, but what does it mean for each of us? I have written several posts about managing what we eat, getting a decent level of exercise each day and managing stress. It is time for each of us to break this down and commit to improving on each task before we find ourselves in the same shape as today at whatever stage follows senior citizenship in our lives.
I would like to address exercise today because it is an area in which I need help. For most of my life I have fallen in love with different exercise regimens until I cause repetitive motion injuries. Some years ago I decided that swimming was a safe, non-impact form of exercise that would help many parts of my body. Sadly, not having had proper instruction in stroke production I created knee problems that forced me to quit that exercise. Doing something wrong over and over does not help our health, it only causes problems that slow down the wellness improvement we are after.
I have recently decided that yoga is an exercise I need to master. All that stretching and focus on breathing has got to be good for me, but what injury lurks around the corner? Have you had a good experience or bad one that you can share with me before I follow my normal trajectory and grind back to zero? Any suggestions of You Tube videos I should watch before I find myself twisted in some “pretzel position” from which there is no return?
If the stages after senior citizen are Super Senior and then Ultra Senior as they are in national tennis, I want to be as well as possible to enjoy them.
If you have yoga tips to share or need help enrolling in Medicare, give us at CDA, Inc. a call!