Hiking proves there’s no such thing as too old!

Hiking proves there’s no such thing as “too old.”

Have you ever said I’m too old, too young, too fat, or too out of shape to do whatever? Many women fall victim to the belief that age is a number that suddenly puts the brakes on what we can or cannot do. We see it everywhere, on commercials, when all the older people are sitting around in assisted living facilities, playing balloon volleyball, promoting the theme that you might be “too old” to do this or that or the other thing. And of course, as we age and wake up one day with what my husband calls over 60 aches.  You know the ones I mean?  You wake up and your right knee is killing you. You get out of bed, brush your teeth, take a shower, and the next time you notice your knee is the next day.  Yep, all those aches and pains, or even an actual injury, reinforce the concept of being too old.  Do you remember way back when we were young.? You twisted your ankle or maybe even broke a bone? Did you sit around and worry about not being able to play later or go on that bike ride.  Maybe for a minute or two, but then, off you went on your way to using your body for fun and recreation. We stayed in the now; and didn’t worry about what might never come to pass in the future. But what happens next? We get older and forget about NOW, we worry about the future. What if I trip and break my hip? I’m over 50 now, it happens all the time.  Of course, it does, but usually for lazy people, not active ones.  And if it happens, heck, we get back up back to the trails, and off we go, continuing to add bone density to these old bones. Not let the curse of the age jinx snowball. We can get caught up in the belief that we are too old because, look, we have a stress fracture just from walking.  It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been so old.  Not true. If you’re like me, you make the decision to start hiking again, and instead of easing into it, you jump back into hiking 5 miles per day every day.  Well heck yes, I now have a stress fracture.  Six weeks off with a boot, and now I pay attention to how to get back in the game.  Started with 10 minutes of exercise on the app Walk Fit, then walked 6100 steps for the first week, 7100 the next, and so on.  Now I’m back up to 9000 steps, which is easy and has brought such blessings back into my life. So, a lack of activity can then lead to more barriers attributed to being “too old.” We need to break that spell right now.

So, or to offer hope, I offer this challenge.  When you see something or hear something, even a well-intentioned friend mentions what they think you may not be able to do because of your age, pause and breathe, and say to yourself, “What a pleasure,” because now I have the impetus to keep moving and never let my age be an excuse to enjoy this amazing life. Age is just a number! The fountain of youth can be found in nature! No one is ever too old to experience the healing medicine of a good old-fashioned walk-in nature.