“Yes” you say, “I’m dedicated to sofa and channel surfing. Oh since you’re up would you bring me another beer and the chips?” You think , “I really don’t need to work out I go to work every day, I do take the stairs down, when the elevator runs slow. I walk to and from the break room which, by the way, is all the way across the office from my desk, to get coffee 5-6 times a day at least! And my parking spot, wellll, that is on the 5th from the last row. So yeah, I get plenty of exercise!”
She, drags herself out of bed at 6 am, does some push-ups then a quick sprint, then some squats, more push-ups, leg lifts, then an endurance walk for a few rounds ……
She is 82, living in an assisted living facility. It takes her a couple of tries to “push-up” off the edge of the bed and reach for her walker. It’s morning so the sprint to the bathroom is a must! More “push-ups” as she challenges her not so strong anymore arms to lift her body weight onto the walker to give that new hip a much needed break. “Leg lifts” to get back into bed for just a little longer then off to therapy where she is thrilled to be able to tolerate 3 times around the nursing station before sitting for a rest! …..
Seems we are ALL athletes in the ultimate endurance game of life. As we get older, more financially set, we let devices do our work for us. Elevators carry us up and down stairs, valets get great exercise running back and forth for our cars at the front door of our favorite restaurant where someone else prepares our meal and does the dishes too… and the list goes on.
To finish the game in a strong position, we have to start to take back our vigor! Sometimes , in that game of life we draw the “wrong card” and have to play it anyway. The card that says “you broke a hip” or “you had a stroke” or “you were in a car accident” then the card reads, “go to the hospital, go directly to the hospital, and skip 2 turns while you learn to live again in a different way.”
At this point, some of those tools I mentioned earlier are absolutely necessary to learn to use if you want to get back into the game. www.FunctionalFlowers.com has just the tools needed to get back into the game of life and finish strong. This online store is paired with a gift registry to help folks that need these tools tell friends and family what would really help. Who do you know that could use something like www.FunctionalFlowers.com?
…….She was almost 50 and a committed computer potato! A half marathon was definitely nowhere near her bucket list, but ………..(more in the next posting)
I’m looking for those fascinating statistics on how many people still don’t have insurance to pay for the tools they need when going through a life-change.
What you are doing is so valuable. Shout it from the housetops!