fitover50

I like to look at the activities of my life in small increments. My goals are built one brick at a time, until a sturdy wall surrounds me. I’ve done this with my education, my workplace goals, my diet, my exercise program, even with something as small as completing a reading list.

Today, however, the United States stands at the eve of change unlike anything we have known before. Tomorrow, November 4, 2008, a new president of the United States will be elected. It will be nothing if not historic. Either the United States will have its first African American president or it will have its first female vice-president. One of those outcomes is a foregone conclusion.

Those of us over 50 have seen a lot of change in the world. We have lived through good wars and bad wars, good political leaders and bad ones. We have enjoyed prosperous economies and struggled through recessionary times. We know something about change.

I’d like to think we are prepared for what is to come.

I don’t believe, at this late hour, there are any “undecided” voters left. I have my preferences. You have your preferences. We are not all going to be on the victor’s side after the votes have been counted. I’d would like to hope that we can all rally together when the decision is made and stand together to face the inevitable change that is coming to this country and the world.

It matters less who proves victorious in the presidential race than that we, as citizens of the United States and citizens of the world, recognize that change is here. We will benefit most from a united front, not from bickering and petty squabbling. The time to debate and argue is over.

Change is here. Let’s embrace it.

I see a lot of articles and news stories about the fear of Alzheimer’s disease. Because we are living longer on average, the incidence of this horrible affliction is greater and more likely than for any previous generation. We may all remember elderly relatives whom our families labeled as “senile” but who were likely suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s. For our own generation, we are not only able to identify it, we pretty much see it coming like a freight train straight for us.

It is being broadly claimed that the best way to fight against this disease is to never stop learning. If we keep the brain struggling for knowledge, we are, in essence, exercising our brain in much the same way as we are constantly told to exercise our bodies. A brain that is not tested and tried and exercised on a regular basis is an open invitation for the devil, “Alzheimer’s disease”, to enter into his favorite workshop, our idle brains.

I work hard to keep my brain on the treadmill of knowledge. I have a full time job that requires mental effort. I have my various blog sites, web content producing efforts and website development classes to keep my mind active. I’ve started working again towards a lifelong goal of reading as many of the great, classic novels as I can.

What other activities do you engage in to keep the “devil” out of the “workshop?” Drop an e-mail and share one or more of the activities you enjoy that make your brain work overtime to keep brain cells alive and kicking. Remember, it only takes one small change to begin on the road to an enormous change.

I’m a hoarder. I admit it. I’d like to blame my parents for some genetic defect. After all, they came from that depression era mentality of keeping anything that could, conceivably, someday have some sort of a life again. If it were up to them I would probably still have my tie-dyed shirts and bell-bottom pants from the seventies. (Actually, I wouldn’t be too far out of style with that look right now.)

But, it would be unfair to cast blame in their direction, God rest their souls. I learned this demented little behavior all on my own. Deep down inside I am a cheap-skate. So, if I keep my stuff for decades, it may save me from spending money somewhere down the road on something I don’t really want to spend money on.

At least, that’s how the theory goes. In reality, whenever my stuff gets out of hand, I become the possession and my stuff is in charge. That’s how I feel right now. As I look in closets and on shelves, I see my captor staring back at me. This has got to stop.

And so, once again, I make a pledge to myself to clean up, clean out and discard some non-sensical pile of useless baggage. Somehow, past the age of 50, that stuff manages to multiply at a new and unfathomable rate.

This is the one small change I have on my agenda today. Wish me luck.

The Quaker Oats Company likes to advertise that by eating their oatmeal for 30 days, you can reduce your cholesterol level by some amount. I may very well be the poster child they are looking for. I have been eating Quaker Oatmeal almost every day for breakfast for the last 23 years. My cholesterol reading is always somewhere between 145 and 180. And that is a natural reading. There is not now, nor has there ever been, any cholesterol lowering medication in my life.

Coincidence? I don’t know. I try to eat a healthful diet on all levels, not just my breakfast cereal. Maybe it’s the big picture at work here. But, for each of us, making one small change in what we do or how we do it can be the beginning of a radical improvement in our lives. That first step can lead to many more.

It’s easy enough. Breakfast is an important part of the day. For me, I don’t have enough imagination first thing in the morning to get creative. That’s why I like the oatmeal, whole grain toast and yogurt routine that I’ve established for myself. There is no effort involved. I don’t question what to do each day, I just do the same thing I did yesterday.

Boring? If it is, I don’t notice it. It seems to work.

Do you have any simple tips or routines in your life that might be the beginning of a simple change for someone? If so, drop an e-mail. Let’s start a list of simple changes.