Age Warrior Battle for Quality of Life: The Elephant in the Room

Before we can go into battle for a healthier lifestyle and start the basic training I laid out yesterday, each one of us needs to decide if we are battle ready because ...

… There’s one more area we need to address. It’s the most difficult of all and I hate to even bring it up. It’s something we have to do before even thinking about our battle plan. It’s that elephant in the room that no one wants to notice. I feel awkward even speaking about it.

If we can do this one thing, the rest will become much easier. I stuck it on the bottom of my brainstormed list Tuesday because I didn’t know what else to do with it – as I tried to pretend the elephant wasn’t there. What am I talking about? Addiction.

Any kind of addiction, by definition, interferes with one’s quality of life. Most bring negative social and economic consequences. Many bring horrible health consequences and costs. At the very least, addictions steal time away from healthier things your body and mind need to be doing for you.

In my brainstormed list, I listed only smoking and excess alcohol; but there are others.

The Seeman study data tell that it’s not just obesity or what the researchers termed “health behavior” that have caused the apparent dramatic increase in early onset disabilities we associate with old age. But obesity, excess alcohol consumption, drug overuse and smoking certainly don’t help.

I wish there were more I could say about this subject but it is so difficult to address. I’m not a doctor or psychiatrist or substance abuse counselor; just a well-meaning friend. If you have an unhealthy addiction, you probably know it deep inside, though you may not admit it to yourself yet.

Why not try keeping a secret diary? Write down everything you can about “the elephant in your room”. When do you indulge? What do you feel before and after? Were you stressed and then calmed; or angry and then mellow; just relaxed but later guilty or hung over? Write it down. Write how much the “elephant” costs you. How is your “elephant” affecting your loved ones, your social attachments, your job?

Now here’s a really big dare: ask two or three loved ones to write down how they feel about “the elephant”. Even if you have an “elephant” to banish from the room and from your life, join us as we begin basic training tomorrow.

That act alone will help you start focusing on your health more and spending less time with that so-seductive “elephant”.

Tags: avoid disability, boomer wake-up call, age-appropriate exercise, anti-aging supplements, drink in moderation, stop smoking, healthy lifestyle choices, quality of life