Aging is a Tree Ring

There is a moment when age becomes an obstacle, where things are not as they used to be. Things being stiff joints, menopause, muscle loss, balance issues, injuries and mental changes and challenges. Unique to each person is a set of experiences that reflect a life lived in decades that are like tree rings of aging.

I personally have been obsessed with aging since about 5th grade. I was oddly concerned with a group of people in an apartment building that at the time I thought were old, like really old. I along with my friend Nancy, would pick plums in the Fall and take it upon ourselves to deliver them to the ‘old people’. Oh my gosh, what they must have thought!

Later when I was 19 in my sophomore year of college my father died of a heart attack at the age of 50. That struck me deeply and altered my orientation to health. I knew his passing was a great disruptor to the trajectory of my life. I remember thinking I must care for myself differently than his journey and wanted to use the tragic experience as a positive direction in my life.

38 years later I am 57 and still focused on ageing, it is the passion of my profession. I took my father’s lesson in passing and educated myself on how to help others age with ease. I also internalized my mother’s penchant for healthy food and abundant exercise which continues to guide me in teaching others how to healthfully and dynamically age.

I am still obsessed with aging using intelligence, humor, love and empathy. I am no stranger to injuries, surgeries, replacements, rehabilitation, and grit. I have led an adventurous life filled with movement and the physical thrill of being alive. From childhood to now I am a collection of unique onto me tree rings.

How about you? What is your journey? What do your tree rings show and how do you want to see them grow?