TF'ers on the whole are likely healthier than the average person their age, simply by being more active.
My keys to aging gracefully with a boat:
1. It starts young and this is where in the US we're still doing a lousy job. One needs to maintain a healthy weight. I don't believe in extreme diets or exercise until or unless the condition is extreme. If you're 100 pounds overweight, it's time to take extreme measures. Childhood obesity remains at epidemic levels. We do watch our weight by weighing daily as we simply don't want to let it get away from us. Easier to prevent than to lose later. Sorry, working on the engine isn't exercise. While it's an activity that helps, make sure while boating, you're still walking enough.
2. Lifestyle choices. Smoking, alcohol, drugs. Eventually your body will pay for all. However, one other lifestyle grouping and that is sleep and leisure time. Sleep is often overlooked and many brag about how little they need but they're fooling themselves. Our bodies need time to recover. Also leisure time to relieve stress. If your boat becomes a job, back away.
3. Preventive medicine-physical. This isn't just those normally thought of like vaccines, but it is regular medical care. Periodic labs and tests can give clues as to what is possibly going to happen and allow you to prevent it. They can catch that something is wrong that needs investigating.
4. Preventive medicine-mental health. Aging is tough and more so for some than others. There is a psychological term I like called "Radical Acceptance." We all need that over the years. It's tough at 50 not being able to do what I could at 30 but I imagine it will be tougher at 70 not to be able to do what I can today. How tough? Depends on my physical condition but depends more on my mental thoughts and handling of it. Boating is one of many things one must handle. Can I delegate more of the work? Can I change my approach? Can I slow down? Am I better off giving it all up? Those require thought and whether you work it out alone or with spouse or with a counselor you must work through it. Not doing so creates stress in addition to injury possibilities. Retirement is designed to be less stressful than earlier years. Bringing stress into it is never good for you. That's something we each must address. We all deal with things differently. For instance, owning a business doesn't stress me (although a bit during pandemics), but sickness or illness of someone close does. I know when my wife has her first major illness or injury, I'll be calm on the outside but tearing apart on the inside. I know when I have my first, seeing her worry will be stressful for me. I find the turmoil in our society stressful and my wife makes me back away. At the point owning a boat becomes more stressful than pleasurable, then one must make a change.
Unfortunately, there remain those things we can't anticipate and couldn't have prevented. We just have to deal with those as they come and until they hit, no real way to plan and handle well. I've seen the healthiest men turned into inactive, suffering men by back problems. I've seen healthy women taken down by diabetes. Then all the cancers. And heart attacks for those who had no warning signs. Lung diseases from exposures 50 years ago. Autoimmune diseases that we don't know the cause and have no cure for, just medicate and manage. It's all these possibilities that always tell me to have a Plan B and a Plan C and D. If I can no longer do X, Y, and Z, then how will I still be happy and enjoy life. Any thought that a good life is over when one has to move on from boating needs adjusting. I don't want to imagine no more boating, but in quiet times, we do. We think of Motorhome. We think of just being at home with friends and family and more music time. I'm a planner, even on those things I can't plan. At least by thinking them through I'm able to condition and protect myself. I know that if I live long enough, the day will come I no longer boat. I know as long as family and friends are near, I'll still find a way to be happy. Some can pretend it will never happen and I applaud them. However, I must consider it might happen and then imagine what I would do.
