070: Habits for Effortless Aging
You see it in athletes.
Some musicians, actors, and actresses exemplify it.
It's effortlessness.
That captivating quality that rises above the striving and struggle within a skill, talent, or energy being expended.
Effortlessness is achievable for those mentioned above but before you dismiss it thinking it's personally unattainable - think again.
Why can't aging be effortless?
The reality is that the status quo of aging is most often stressed with effort.
It takes effort to rise above feeling irrelevant, marginalized, or victimized by ageism.
The struggle you might be facing in the second half era of your life is overdoing it to compensate for your age and related issues.
Or as we've covered in a previous issue - trying too hard.
You can age effortlessly when you maximize your available energy instead of being marginalized by status quo expectations around aging
It's expected that as you age you'll slow down, be required to monitor your health more diligently, and have less influence than you did in years previous.
Meeting, exceeding, or ignoring those expectations requires great effort on your part.
I challenge you to ignore the expectations (within reason) and seek to age effortlessly.
- Establish fulfilling routines
- Show up for daily rehearsals
- Replenish your energy through reflection
Create routines that fulfill you
It's likely that you have daily routines.
Although you've established certain routines and consistently try to follow them, you must evaluate whether or not your routines are actually fulfilling their purpose and improving your quality of life as you age.
A routine that isn't fulfilling could perhaps best be described as a "rut."
As you age you want to avoid ruts.
A fulfilling routine, on the other hand, is like a four-wheel drive vehicle that plows through the ruts in your life.
- Ruts of complacency
- Ruts of inactivity
- Ruts of believing yourself incapable
Identify the ruts you're in and begin to reframe your life around more fulfilling routines.
- Routines of productive rest, pause, and relaxation - physically, mentally, and emotionally.
- Routines that enable you stay in a rhythm relative to your health and wellbeing, your relationships, and your attitude about aging.
- Routines that guide your ability to pre-decide how you'll invest your time each day.
Routines have a streamlining effect on your life. Each routine you establish or renew helps reduce the need for unnecessary or unproductive decision-making.
Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, states that, "...establishing habits (routines) can free up mental energy for more important tasks."
Rehearse the outcomes you desire to experience
Aging has a default setting that naturally causes you to look ahead.
Even so, the forward perspective can result in you rehearsing unfortunate outcomes on occasion.
You might be someone who "catastrophizes" or rehearses the worse-case-scenario.
And you may have discovered that "catastrophizing" increases as you age.
It's time to move the needle on the record playing consistently in your head (that analogy would once have aged me but now that vinyl/LPs have surged in popularity...).
You can move the needle, change the channel, or fast-forward (whatever your preferred analogy) by utilizing the power of a daily or momentary rehearsal.
- Restore your hope and motivation by rehearsing past successes in your life.
- Redefine your future by being proactive instead of reactive about your current circumstances.
- Reframe your potential future outcomes with a clear Plan B (in case your Plan A fails).
Restore your energy through reflection
Reflection is reenergizing.
It's why I've baked a period of reflection into my day each morning.
After my prayer and scripture meditation time, followed by a brief yoga session, a first sip of coffee while barefoot in my backyard grass, I prioritize a moment of reflection through journaling.
You can't overthink reflective journalling or...you won't do it.
I've simplified the process of writing daily in my journal by dating the day's entry and writing a brief one-sentence reflection that expresses my current thoughts on the following:
- I'm grateful for...
- I'm excited about...
- I want to...
- I want to avoid...
- I need to...
Feel free to use those prompts to begin restoring your energy through a daily period of reflection.
You will likely discover that gratitude, excitement, desire, and personal improvement will begin to create a lighter and more effortless mindset within in you about aging.
Aging doesn't have to be a burden on you or those around you if you'll establish habits that enable you to age more effortlessly.
- Establish fulfilling routines
- Show up for daily rehearsals
- Replenish your energy through reflection
Press on...(effortlessly, of course)
Eddie