The Test of Time

 Aging is nothing more than the test of time; how well any truth holds up, is revealed in time.  If we live a good and virtuous life, time will tell.  That's even more so if we haven't.  The good and bad accumulates over time -- either as aging badly or aging well.  Many will try to convince us that it all doesn't matter, and the slates are washed clean every night -- or every year -- rather than invariably being what kills us, or keeps us alive.

Bad lives tend to be short, nasty, brutish.  Good lives bring joy to many others -- even without trying.  They are just a joy to witness -- and marvel at the human possibilities.  One doesn't have to be that person achieving it; it is enough that any of the species can attain it to feel connected to and appreciate it.

That is why we appreciate the prodigies of every discipline -- even if we could never imagine doing what they do ourselves.  We know that the world is rich in talent -- as well as wisdom.  Few need to possess it all, although a rare few, think that any other's gain, is stolen from them.  Those are the psychopathic criminals of the world -- who think that everybody in the world exists for their exclusive benefit, and showed up just to applaud them.  There are the countless many others, who wish to hog all the spotlight -- with no discernible talent and significance to justify it.

For a while, they may be very successful at achieving those ends -- but in the end, realize it was not sustainable -- especially when they needed it to be the most.  What used to explain everything, had in time, proved to be false and only a delusion.  And nowhere is that more true than athletic or any other kind of competition -- even with oneself.  That is not the driving force in meaningful sustainable activities.  The prizes and distinctions were mainly the diversions from any true purpose -- and once they were not forthcoming, many just give up and abandon all betterment, and go into a steep decline -- with no intention of turning around again.  Those lives are over.

So the challenge of that stage of life is renewing and reviewing life daily -- as though it matters -- even if it means beginning now.  Many lose that sense of urgency -- because nothing seems to work anymore, or make any difference -- and it has been that way as long as they can remember.  That is all learned behavior and accepting the conventional wisdom -- or truth of the day.  Tomorrow it will be different.

Truths that work, don't just work when one is young and don't know any better.  It's more important to know what truths work timelessly -- because one knows better.  Yet it is precisely at that stage that most people's knowledge abandons and betrays them -- rather than assures and produces for them.  That's when it really counts -- and people learn whether they have passed  those tests.  It's difficult to accept that all one "knew," was only wishful-thinking, and had no connection to reality, and the realities they are now facing -- mostly because of the errors of their ways.

It did not seem that excessive drinking and eating would have negative impacts -- later on in life, but that is the truth, as much as many are in denial.  In fact, the current advertising is to encourage it as much as possible.  At some point, the damage is irreversible and irrecoverable -- but one never knows when that point is.  Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and just little bit of a good thing, may be the proper dosage -- that doesn't make a poison, or produce irrecoverable and irreversible injury.

More is not always better -- unequivocally.  Nor is zero.  More than likely, the truth lies somewhere in between -- and finding that proper balance has always been the challenge.  Does one need to lift a personal best or run a marathon each day to optimize their health and well-being?  Most have tried this maximum overload principle only to find that it injures or impairs them prematurely -- resulting in permanent cessation of any further efforts and exercise.  The body in its infinite wisdom, tells them to stop.  That is true zero -- while those who leave a little in the tank, are ready to go again, and that is the preferable condition of readiness -- to do whatever one has to do in the daily activities of their lives -- and that is infinitely more important than simply setting a personal best in something not necessary to do.

Meanwhile, one never has the time and energy for doing what really matters in their lives because one has diverted those energies towards the unnecessary -- as though they really mattered.  Of course one could do both -- and that would already indicate a better balance than the one to the exclusion of every other -- particularly if that one thing to the exclusion of everything else, isn't working.  Yet most will not admit that what they are doing is not working -- to achieve the greater health objective because they are so narrowly focused on the one metric that tells them all they want to know.

But that one measure, may not be all there is to know -- or anything relevant to know -- especially if everything else in their lives is not working, and getting better.  Yet many accept that that is how it is supposed to be -- and not that it would be nice to solve the real problems in their lives.  Eventually it just adds up to a monumental fail -- and one surmises that that is the inevitable "aging" process -- which only a rare few do not succumb to as the unchallenged truth.  But is that a function of time or faulty lifestyle choices and practices?

What would be the outcome if one did everything right -- and not just presume so -- when everything turns out wrong, particularly aging badly?