I just turned 56, so I've got a little perspective on this.
Most of what everyone is describing on here is due less to aging and more to the fact that most people let themselves get deconditioned with age. Aches, pains, tiredness, not being able to do stuff - most of that is because you're out of shape, and not because you've turned 30 or 40 or 50 or 60.
I'll tell you what is one of the most important lessons I've learned in my life:
IF YOU WANT TO STAY YOUNG PHYSICALLY, GET ON A VIGOROUS DAILY EXERCISE PROGRAM. GIVE YOURSELF AN HOUR A DAY TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BODY, AND YOU'LL STAY IN BETTER SHAPE UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE THAN MOST PEOPLE WILL EVER BE IN.
If you think I'm shouting that, damn right! I can't emphasize it enough. It's one of the five most important things you can do with your life - GET EXTREMELY FIT & STAY THAT WAY!!!
If you think a two mile vigorous walk is exercise, you're getting old.
If you're worried about getting old, rush out right now and buy the May 2008 Esquire magazine and read the article about Don Wildman. He's 75 years old and can run, swim, surf, bike, board and lift the shit out of the lot of us.
There is one anti-aging pill that absolutely works and that is STRENUOUS DAILY EXERCISE. It doesn't take a huge amount of time – trust me, workout HARD and an hour a day will be more than you need. I'm talking lifting weights, running/biking/swimming, yoga/stretching – some combination of these done INTENSELY will work wonders. You've got to sweat, you've got to push your heart rate, and for brief periods during the workout you've got to hit 100%, you've got to push to failure. Combine it with eating a good diet, and the odds are that you'll beat diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, sexual dysfunction and obesity,
It's hard, intense and your body will LOVE it. Your body was meant to be a lean, mean physical machine. It'll thrive with vigorous exercise - no matter how old you are when you start.
It's a given that things will change as you grow older - you'll get gray, or bald, the eyes weaken and hearing in the upper register goes bad. BUT, you don't have to become fat and out of shape. Your body doesn't have to go to shit, you don't have to get feeble. Most of that is due to a lack of conditioning and not to aging. Sure we're all going to die, but you've still got a lot of control over how you're going to LIVE until that last moment. I refuse to live fat and feeble and half alive for the last part of my life. Only a 22 would be able to say half their life is over like the post on this thread!! Hell, at 22, you've hardly begun to live!
I've spent less time on this board because I'm involved with a group of 55-plus guys that are into extreme fitness for a lifetime - and let me tell you, these are guys with 32 inch waists or less who aren't afraid of triathalons or walking around in swimming trunks! We also don't hang around with "old" people - especially the ones who are 20 years younger than we are.
So, no more whining! Growing old isn't for sissies. Remind yourself every day to live with intensity.
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Seeker4
JoinedPosts by Seeker4
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~ Your feelings on aging ~
by FlyingHighNow inso, we aren't going to stay young and never die.
how do you feel about aging, especially those of you that are over 35?
aging poses some concerns for me, especially since i am 49 and pretty much single.
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Seeker4
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California JWs -- Are they different than most JWs?
by B_Deserter ini've heard stories from people multiple times about their trips to california and how they were surprised to find out how lax the witlesses out there were concerning rules, behavior.
just wondering if anyone can confirm or deny that.
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Seeker4
Back here in the East we heard for years about how crazy the Cali JWs were.
We used to hear that "Get Down" Brown (can't think of his first name at the moment, but you know the Bethelite I'm talking about) used to get sent out to CA all the time for special talks to get the rank and file out there back on track.
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Do JW's attract the mentally ill, or do their beliefs cause mental illness?
by gaiagirl inhave you observed a higher than normal number of mentall ill among jw's?
if so, do you think the religon attracts the mentally ill, or do you think that their beliefs and practices actually cause mental illness?.
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Seeker4
Lots of mentally ill in the congregations. One reason is that I think those ill like the attention they can get. We had some folks so mentally ill that they just couldn't be taken in the field service. S4
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After fading, can you get away with DF'able sins?
by inkling ini ask this because a person i know who had a rather short fade.
is now living a... lets just say a distinctly worldly life, and.
the elders are simply looking the other way.
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Seeker4
I faded for about 6-7 years, and the elders left me alone, for a while.
When my marriage broke up and I was living with my girlfriend, out of the blue the elders came to visit me, prompted, I'm sure, by an over-zealous CO dork. Wanted me to either disassociate myself or meet with them.
I told them they had absolutely no authority in my eyes, what I did was none of their business, and to leave me alone. There was no way I would meet with them.
Their reasoning was that I had been such a prominent elder 10 years before that they had to do something about my openly living in "sin." My case was similar to tnangel's.
I have to disagree with LouBelle's comment. I sent the body of elders an 8 page letter (you can find it on JWD - check my posts a few years back), in which I laid out how they were violating the elder's manual instructions as posted in this thread. I told them I'd sue the body if they bothered me again or dfed me. I heard NOTHING from them again, but did hear through the grapevine about six months later that they announced I was no longer one of JWs.
So, even though I hadn't claimed to be a Witness for 6 years or more, openly spoke against the JWs, was no longer viewed as a JW in the community, openly declared that I didn't recognize their authority and refused to meet with them, they still dfed me. Secretly from me, though, without the mandatory opportunity to appeal, etc.
Because I'd threatened to sue them, I know the letter had to have been sent to Bethel - so their actions had the blessing of the Org.
A body of elders and COs can bend the rules a lot. Your safest bet is to fade quietly. Move if possible. If you're out of the area, they'll almost never bother you. A former MS from the same congregation has been living with his girlfriend for a few years now, and hasn't heard a word from the elders.
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Missed college when you were younger? Here's a good solution!
by Awakened at Gilead inat my age i didn't want to spend the next 4-10 years going to college classes after work.
i have mentioned this in a few popsts but wanted to share this on a new thread so that everyone can find out how easy and cheap it can be to go to college.. i am studying online with cuny (city university of ny).
tuition is $2165 per semester if you take 4 or more classes.
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Seeker4
Joel - I didn't recognize your pic! Work that beard, man! Glad to have you on here regularly again.
And congrats on the CLEPing and the degree.
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Age wise, what are/were the best years of your life?
by oompa ini'm thinking mid 20's to mid 30's..........although i had a hell of a 15.......................oompa
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Seeker4
This one.
Next year it'll be that one.
My approach to life is to make the very best of the moment. I actively plan how to live each week, month and day with intensity. Last Sunday I spent skiing and laughing with my 12 yo granddaughter. Definitely one of the best days of my life.
That doesn't mean there aren't any bad days. There are - but I don't just let life happen to me - I control as much of it as possible, especially how I feel about life and react to what it brings me.
I also feel that much of the deterioration that comes with age and makes getting old suck is not due so much to age, but to a lack of use. Really serious, intense exercise (not a two mile stroll) is the best antidote to getting old - in the "I ache, I'm fat, I can't do anything, I'm out of shape" getting old.
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Missed college when you were younger? Here's a good solution!
by Awakened at Gilead inat my age i didn't want to spend the next 4-10 years going to college classes after work.
i have mentioned this in a few popsts but wanted to share this on a new thread so that everyone can find out how easy and cheap it can be to go to college.. i am studying online with cuny (city university of ny).
tuition is $2165 per semester if you take 4 or more classes.
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Seeker4
When I was a JW, a very close Witness friend, who had left college when he became a JW, decided to change careers. He'd been a machinist, and wanted to become a psychologist.
He took the CLEP exams, and literally got his Bachelors in a matter of months. He realized he'd only be able to make money if he got his Masters, so he continued on and got that as well, all the while still working fulltime. He's a psychologist now, and has published a book on Neurofeedback, of which it seems he's one of the leading experts. I think the most lucrative part of his career is that he does seminars all over the world on neurofeedback.
What shocks me is that he's remained a Witness! We were the closest of friends when we were elders. He stepped down years ago, and I know he sees through a ton of the WTS shit - yet he remains. I found his web address off his website when the Question from Readers in the KM came out last year, and wrote him, asking how he, with a Masters degree, could remain part of an organization who took such an official anti-research stance.
He never responded.
Thanks for this info. I've definitely thought about this.
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Sheri from THE VIEW absent AGAIN as CULTS are hot topic...
by sf inseems this woman is always, and i mean always, absent from topics related to religious conflicts.. again, today, when cultic behavior [ lds raid in texas] is discussed as a hot topic, she's not there.. a few weeks ago, there was the topic of the child that died due to the parents thinking god would heal her.
sheri was not there.. it's really starting to piss me off.. there have also been ample opportunities for her to speak out about abuse that goes on in jw religion.
she never takes it.. yesterday she reveals that when she had an opportunity to look at princes credit info, she took it.. i'm about to fire off an email and ask point blank, why she keeps avoiding (by being absent) these topics.. anyone else notice this about her?.
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Seeker4
I've only seen her on the show a few times, but she has said some really dumb stuff about science and history. How she got that gig is beyond me.
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Seeker4
I've written about this before in another thread. I have an old canvas military bag, small at about 12x10x4, with a bunch of pockets etc. in which I carry the wallet, cell phone, multi-tool, glasses, digital recorder, sketchbook, journal, pens, pencils, checkbook, drugs (legal), papers and occasionally a camera or pistol. It'll fit in the saddlebags on my motorcycle and is easy to have with me in the truck. I've got a bigger backpack for my Nikon and lenses, but don't always want to have that with me.
The bag gets rid of all the shit from your pockets, saves your back from your wallet, and is way cooler than a fanny pack (come on, fanny packs scream "overweight old fart!!"). Think Indiana Jones and Jack Bauer - gotta have a place to carry those extra clips for the automatic!
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Whole wheat crackers, tasty and good for you -- NOT
by Fatfreek inmy wife -- bless her heart -- is always on the lookout for me.
knowing that my blood sugar drops to less than 50 between meals she bought me a package of those keebler saltine crackers.
hmm ... they are tasty ... but why aren't they brown?
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Seeker4
Yeah - I find myself "reading" my way through the supermarket half the time! Deciphering the labels is a chore.
And the comment on high fructose corn syrup is right on - one of the worst possible ingredients, and absolutely a must avoid if you're trying to lose weight.
I'm a whole grain, complex carbs, high protein eater. That and a great workout program have, in my mid-50s, allowed me to drop 20 pounds, get my bodyfat down to 11% and into the best shape of my life. Still droppingalso!
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