Getting Old and Work - 2

Continuing with getting old and work from last time, let's resolve a few things to start.

First, resolve to be conscious of the mere fact that getting older and the changes it will likely bring can't be ignored. Those changes involve at minimum our body and our mind. 

Aging bodies left without proper attention will progressively make every effort involving Brother Ass (St. Francis of Assisi's term for his body) more difficult. And it doesn't take too much imagination to know that this will spill onto our work. It could be something as simple as getting up each morning; sustaining our engagement and concentration through the entire work day; commuting to and from work. While keeping physically fit won't necessarily eliminate the effects of age, it sure does help a lot. Oh, and "fit" includes not just exercise, but what we put into our mouths, both solid and liquid. You get the point, right? And if you're not ready for retirement, make it your business to keep Brother Ass as fit as possible.

Aging minds, even if "in" a fit body will have similar effects. Our bodies might be fit as a fiddle, but we must specifically care for our minds. As mentioned last time, if we flood our minds with junk, just as junk food wears out the body, so does mental junk wear out the mind. The mind needs to be sharp to do our best work.

Take stock of what you read and listen to. Lots of mindless videos or blathering audio inputs will soak your mind with junky content that eventually solidifies and muddies or totally blocks clear thinking. Most of us are aware of what happens when our the arteries of the heart are blocked; same holds for the mind.

And note we're saying the "mind" not the brain. Of course the brain will suffer from bad physical input or content. But it's part of our body. Our mind is something else. We can have a basically healthy brain, but simultaneously suffer from a disastrously dysfunctional mind.

All those supplements that supposedly keep the brain pistons firing may be beneficial. Those experts who talk about brain-healthy food and drink may have something of value to offer. But a brain that's physically fit won't help keep our minds sharp if we're not engaging it with good visual and auditory inputs.

There are simply too many words - hard copy and digital floating around that can turn the sharp edge of an active thinking human mind to a passive dull receptacle bulging with water-logged half-truths, self-indulgence and outright lies. How can such a mind bring its A-game to its work each day?

What of retirement? It's certainly a goal of many. And when we're working at a job that simply requires a younger man's body, well, we either withdraw willingly or get pushed out. Same holds for jobs that require extraordinarily long hours where our minds must constantly be firing away with no or little respite. Age sometimes makes such work beyond our reach as we age. 

I've know many who were simply exhausted by their long years of work and were content to set all aside and slip into retirement. But, as we've noted in the past, retirement means different things to different folks. For some, it's a time where we don't work at all and instead "take it easy." It could, on the other hand, lead us to engage with endeavors we once desired to pursue but had to set aside for practical reasons, like earning enough dough to support a family. A perfect example would be the musician who couldn't make a living to support a family, who then returns to his or her music "full time" after leaving the job that helped support the family for all those years. 

Personally, I lean towards the latter scenario of having no desire to retire from daily work and to pursue other endeavors. It's an individual choice that needs serious consideration as we age.

But while we're working at a decent paying job, we can't let getting old get in the way of our providing our best efforts each day, both for the glory of God and simply because we're being paid to do so.

So depending on our current situation, get on with the daily struggle to keep Brother Ass well-oiled and the mind sharp. If not sure what is appropriate for you, given your physical make-up and mental state, be assured that if you put time into finding out what makes sense for you, you will likely find the results you need to continue working as long as you deem prudent or desirable. 

Well, we're just about filled up for today. But there seems to be more to this theme. Being engaged with it these last two posts has fired up this aging mind. Let's see where this takes us in coming posts.