I was listening to a friend the other morning, waiting for water aerobics to start. A few years ago he was diagnosed with a stage four cancer, was treated with surgery and chemical warfare and was one of the small percentage of survivors. He said it changed his outlook on life. He no longer worries about things, something is going to kill you in the end, no matter what you do or don't do today, the thing that gets you is probably not something you spent a lifetime worrying about. So why worry? He is a decade or so older than I am, and lives each day as a bonus. So why is he doing water aerobics, because he enjoys it, and it helps him stay fast enough to keep up with his grandkids.
My health insurance provider keeps bugging me to remember to take screening tests. Calls, texts, emails, and direct mail. They want me to worry and obsess about the 101 little things that might be the end of my life. I really wish they would stop. I have stopped the phone calls, after about the third time of insisting that they stop calling me. I am an adult, in consultation with my doctor, I have made informed choices about what I will do and won't do. That should be enough.
When I was growing up, one of my father's flying buddies was a Doctor, a pretty good one. One Sunday morning at the airport he was in a foul mood, he finally let loose with what he was thinking, "these people who think they are going to live forever - bug me!" He had spent much of the night, at the insistence of family members, extending the dying of a patient. Interestingly, Doc died of a massive heart attack, driving a boat around the lake behind his house. He went out the way he wanted to - fast.
Life has many ups and downs, but in the end, it all ends the same way. Have a lot of fun along the way.
I’d much prefer to go like Doc. But “I’m not scared of dying and I don’t really care...”
ReplyDeleteKeep having fun,
DeleteA sudden death in older years is a good one, but it would be good to make sure your affairs are order, even if there is no immediate health threat.
ReplyDeleteOh there will always be a mess to sort out, except for the money, it is very neatly taken care of.
DeleteI always here my father say, when people complain about their lives and health and such, "Think of the alternative."
ReplyDeleteLive until you don't.
To quote WIllie Nelson, "I woke up not dead again today."
DeleteI turned 75 this year. My great aunt used to say, "the golden years are tarnished". It seems like it might be all down hill from here. I've had a good life and I do not need to live forever.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very good outlook. As Rick Steves says, "keep on travelin'.."
ReplyDeleteMy favourite quotation on this topic is by John Mortimer, the author of the Rumpole of the Bailey books -- "I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward."
ReplyDelete