Not too long ago, we were young. Remember those times, when a day seemed much longer than 24 hours?
On a Monday, it felt like the weekend was far, far away. It used to take forever to get to semestral breaks, Christmas vacations and summer breaks. We had so much time on our hands we thought we would live forever. We thought we were immortal.
Now, years pass with the relative speed that weeks or months did in our childhood. Didn’t our elders always say it would happen this way?
All of a sudden we are living inside bodies that scarcely resemble our 20-year-old selves.
Reality hits us when we see our grown kids and realize how long ago it was when we were youths.
We are not kids anymore. We are grown-ups now but many of us still have habits from our “invincible” days.
Suddenly, we do not feel indestructible. What can we do? Do we passively accept that it is our fate to become “old men?”
Times have changed
Consider this. In the early 1900s, the average man lived to be around 45 to 50 years old. That same man living in this period can expect to live well into his 80s.
In some exceptional cases we know of people who lived well into their 90s and even 100s. This means that, even if you end up living just the average life span and you are in your 40s, you are just about at the halfway point of your life. Even if you are in your 50s, you still have decades to go.
Now try to recall everything that has happened in your life during the last 20 years. Those years were filled with adventures, misadventures and memories that probably seem like a lifetime.
If your succeeding 20 years are just as full as the previous ones, you can fill them with so much life.
We are comforted by the thought that in our next 20 years, we can take what we have learned to make smart choices to help us grow as a man.
Passing time has its advantages. But with it comes the inevitable aging of the body. We frequently are reminded that everything indeed changes.
Our bodies have changed. We now have wrinkles. There are fatty bulges (we were skinny as a boy). Aches and pains seem to last longer. Hair appears and disappears but not necessarily where we want them to. Somehow we have hypertension and high cholesterol. The list goes on.
Let’s face it. We’re no longer kids and there’s nothing we can do about it. Comb-overs will not change this. A new sports car, motorcycle or young lover won’t hide the years either. Even cosmetic surgery cannot truly stop our body from aging.
Quality of life
We cannot control aging but we can influence the quality of our living.
Many men may be living longer but their quality of life, particularly their health, declines each year. Some have amassed many bad habits over the years that will reduce the quality of their second half of life.
The truth is that most men die from the way they choose to live. Many of us may spend our second half of life battling different health obstacles like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and different cancers due to unhealthy choices. This is what we have to look at.
But we don’t have to panic; there is good news. While many of the changes that come with aging are inescapable, we can control how those changes happen and how we respond to them.
Our bodies are like machines that can be made to continuously run well or be reconditioned after a long period of misuse or disuse. We still have time.
Every day, people are proving that being older does not mean that quality of life is bound to decline. They refuse to passively appoint themselves to the psychological, spiritual and physical home for the aged simply because a certain birthday has been reached and passed.
A study in the United States had a group of elderly men and women in a seniors’ home undergo an exercise regimen with free weights and treadmills for a period of two months. Researchers were surprised at how quickly their health improved.
In just a few weeks, some participants no longer needed to use canes or walkers to move about. Energy levels were much higher, attention spans were better and depression was alleviated.
Grown-up fitness
We are honored to know several “grown-up” men who keep themselves strong mentally and physically. We do not want to allow ourselves to decline just because we are not young anymore. Eating correctly and using properly adjusted exercise systems aids in slowing down aging.
Our father, retired Gen. Cesar Go, was always and is still into exercise at age 77. Our older brother Ronald Go, at 50, goes to the gym almost daily.
Silver-haired 54-year-old David Chua works out with weights and bikes. Our fraternal twin brother Robert Go hardly misses a workout at age 49.
Some of us have just returned to fitness after a few years off. We had a 15-year layoff and returned to play badminton and gym in the last four years. We feel stronger than we were 10 years ago.
Muscular Herbert Chua Yu is 49. He stopped lifting weights for 13 years while bowling for the Philippine national team. Richard Delavin is 42 and stopped for two months before coming back to the gym.
Not everyone wants muscularity. Rolly Castillo, 48, concentrates on building cardiovascular and muscle strength, while Carlos Gonzales, 50, has been working out for 10 years to be lean and healthy. Carlo Mayuga, 62, works out on the treadmill for a healthy heart and to keep fat off.
Some show-biz friends continue to exercise. Action stars Ronnie Ricketts and Monsour del Rosario have maintained their health through martial arts. Eddie Garcia, in his late 70s, is famous for quality eating and exercising. Basketball legend and former Sen. Freddie Webb, at 71(!), has maintained an impressive physique.
What you can do
You do not have to abandon the idea that you can look and feel great just because you are 40 or older. It is never too late to create positive change in your life. You can make changes in the way you see yourself, how you think of your body and how you treat it. It is not inevitable that your body will decline after your late 20s. No matter what your age, you can improve the way you feel and the way you feel about yourself.
