Changes and Goals

The story of the ten years from 27 to 37 was based on the idea that each year older meant being that much less capable. I equated aging with always going downhill. I was going to be a little heavier. I was going to have a little more joint pain. I was going to have a little more trouble doing something I could do easily the year before.

I wasn’t alone in thinking this way. A detrimental side effect of modern American society is that we have forgotten what our bodies and minds are capable of. We have cars to take us everywhere and jobs that encourage us to sit. We have devices that tell us what we need to know when we need to know it.

Because I believed it to be true I lived that way and made it true. We are more capable than we remember, though, and all it takes is for us to decide to think differently. So last year I changed that old, unhealthy, unambitious thinking and turned it back on itself.

At 37 years of age I lost weight for the first time in more than 10 years. At 37 I battled against joint pain and found ways to over come it. At 37 I set and achieved goals that I wouldn’t have thought myself capable of before. Many of these goals involved hiking, both in terms of what kinds of hikes I could tackle and in how often I would go out.

So I’ve decided that there is no reason that every year can’t be better than the one before. At 37 I hiked 104 miles in a year. At 38 I will increase that by more than 50%. At 40 I’m going to do almost 100 miles in just fourteen days. I’ve decided to believe I can do anything, and by believing it make it true.