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October 16, 2002
Forethought in life
I was thinking last night about how our parents generation believed that you go to school, get a nice office job, work hard for 30+ years, so that later, when you retire, you'll have the money to do what you want. They believed they were taking the long view on such matters. However, more and more, their theory is being proven innacurate. Firstly, its hard to maintain a single job that long now, making it hard to receive any type of pension. So its up to oneself to invest in retirement. Secondly, and I believe more importantly, working for so long without enough physical or mental stimulation leaves people incapable of enjoying their retirement once they get there. On the lighter side of the scale, that means not having the strength or energy to actually go out there and do stuff. On the more serious side, that means dimensia and alcheimers. Fast forward to my generation which is taking a shorter view to the long view. Namely, we know that later may never come so we are going to try and achieve fullfilment now.While this seams much healthier to me, many of my peers mitakenly think they can just stimulate their minds and be ok later in life. The truth is, as I'm seeing in me and my friends parents and grandparents, without continual physical stimulation, you can not be assured of mental lucidity later in life. Not that you can't be happy, many of the people I'm talking about HAVE found happiness in their daily lives. For me anyway, I believe I'd be more fullfilled later in life if I were still both physically and mentaly capable and active. I hope that others in my generation will understand this link between physical health and mental health. Its no longer a debate. As my role models I can't help but look at my climbing/mountaineering heros of the 40s-60s. Of the ones that are not dead *cough*, the rest who range from their 60s-90s are completely mentally and physically adept. They didn't all graduate from college or have a mentally taxing career, but they did stay active throughout their entire lives, no exception. It gives me something to aspire to.
Posted by wonko at October 16, 2002 05:16 PM
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