Getting older means losing things...memory, eyesight, hair. On a certain level, I knew this. But living it is different than knowing it.
Now that I'm living it, I don't want to just give in - I'm trying to hang on to it all as long as I can. Taking college classes...yes, I still want to get my degree, but I've read that learning new things is a good way to keep your brain young. Running and lifting weights...they keep me from losing bone density and muscle (and the ability to walk up the eighty-foot sloping stone pathway to my van without passing out.)
But my eyesight...nothing you can do about losing that once you hit forty, right? I just resigned myself to needing magnifying glasses in every room of the house, and having to scramble in my purse for my readers if I wanted to decipher a menu.
What I didn't realize until yesterday, thanks to a recent post by Stephanie Klein ("Pencil Pushups"), is that I can fight it! I don't have to give in so easily. According to her eye doctor, sitting in front of a computer for hours and hours can shrink the writing on medicine bottles and care labels, just as effectively as a fortieth birthday. It just so happens I practically doubled my time in front of a computer screen at about the same time I turned forty. Obviously, I didn't pick the right eye doctor - mine never told me about pencil pushups. I'm just glad I found out now. I'll fit them in to my regimen, maybe in between lunges and curls.
Now, if I could just find a way to stop my hair from thinning...
