What Is Successful Aging?

Considering all the exercise and fitness advice out there to the after fifty-year-old individuals, there is so much conflicting information out there on what precisely we ought to do to have a healthy elderly age.

We have all heard that you ought to exercise and eat healthily. And most of us try to do that as far as we can. We toil and hurry into the fitness center so that we could find that workout in so that we could check off or schedules. However, is it really worth it in the long term?

I think that it is worth exercising and eating right to be healthy in our older years. But, I feel some of us turn it into an obsession where we just keep going to the gym, spending hours, and try to seem like we did when we were twenty and thirty years old.

This kind of obsessive mindset is very unhealthy and should be curbed for us to have a healthy elderly age. We must find a way to balance being healthy in a world of extremes where, on the one hand, we are encouraged to eat all the wrong foods to us through advertisements, and on the other hand, we are drilled to visit the gym for 2 hours each day so that we can be healthy.

I believe that to find this balance, we have to be aware of what we are doing on a daily basis.

Here are a Couple of things to test:

1. Walking is at least as good as going to the gym. So, why pay so much money for memberships to health spas. Instead, walk outside during the wonderful weather, and when you can walk outside, find other ways of exercising at home.

2. Live a balanced and mindful lifestyle, where you can slow down and smell the roses. This is really important because for many of us, even when we retire, we wind up doing so much each and every day. In essence, we have replaced our careers with another career.

3. Take the time to enjoy every day of your life. Do at least one nice thing for yourself each day. Sew, crochet, play golf, read, or take a program. All of these things can help you enjoy the quality of your life.

4. Create a bucket list and do the things and start doing the things on your bucket list one at a time. If travel is on your bucket list, start budgeting and planning for these trips. Then when the time comes, visit these destinations and appreciate yourself.

By taking these steps you will be aging successfully. You will also be taking the opportunity to enjoy life because it goes so fast. Bear in mind that we don't have eternally. Thus, we should make every day count.