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Edging Eighty: "Don't let the old man in" or leave the boy behind

Clint Eastwood:  "Every day when I wake up, I don't let the old man in. My secret has been the same since 1959: staying busy. I never let the old man into the house. I've had to drag him out because he was already comfortably settled, bothering me all the time, leaving no space for anything other than nostalgia. You have to stay active, alive, happy, strong, and capable. It's in us, in our intelligence, attitude, and mentality. We are young, regardless of our ID. We must learn to fight to not let the old man in."


Amen to that. As I near 80 years of age, I remain physically and mentally active - short hikes, yard work, weight lifting, writing about pro basketball and life, improving my basement gym, learning about wild foods - and generally eating and supplementing to stay fit, strong and healthy.

I have worked as a research engineer, game warden, police officer, personal trainer, weight management consultant- and now spend a lot of time doing online research to keep learning and writing a blog on sports, survival and life generally.

Clint's words are solid. The old man in me wants to take life (too) easy, but I don't allow it. I will also add that older folks need to not leave the kid in them behind. Curiosity is what separates the young from the old. Stay curious. Don't live on past exploits. Form new ones.

Einstein once said, "A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so." The genius himself discovered that matter was transmutable to energy with his famous equation E = mc2 and helped lay the foundations of quantum theory by that age as evidence for his claim.

Einstein's statement does not mean older folks can't come up with new ideas and concepts. Living in the past could make your future shorter in duration.


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