grow older better

Tag: moving

  • Sitting Longer and Disability Risk Factor

    I saw this research the other day and my first thought was:

    sitting_and_working“uh oh you’re in trouble – you’ve been sitting a lot again”

    I had a lot of work to do, and for some reason, even knowing that sitting is bad for me, I was sitting for long stretches to do the work on my laptop.

    Not good – and here is another reason why sitting is not good:

    Regardless of how much time older Americans spend being active, those who sit for more hours each day are more likely to be disabled, according to a new study.

    Researchers found that every hour people 60 years old and older spent sitting daily was tied to a 46 percent increased risk of being disabled – even if they also exercised regularly.

    So instead, for the last 2 days, when I was finishing up some of that work, I put my laptop up high enough so that it was at the right level for me while standing – and I stood all day to finish the work.

    feeling_virtuous

     

     

      I felt so virtuous.

     

  • There’s Something About Portland [Oregon]

     my-moorage

    10 years ago I bought a house, actually a floating home, in Portland Oregon.

     

    At the time when I was told things would need replacing or work would need to be done in 10 years, and I thought to myself:

    “Who cares, I won’t be here.”

    FYI – I never stay anyplace more than seven or eight years.”

    Well – here we are 10 years later and I am still in that very same house. In fact this is the longest I have stayed put in one house since I moved away from New York City – and that’s 50 years of moving!

    There is obviously something about Portland that has kept me here. I had to stop and think about it and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s

    • my neighbors
    • my house
    • the river
    • the city itself
    • the friends I’ve made here
    • the love of beer wine and dogs
    • and lots more

    And another thing I do think about as I have aged 10 years since I’ve lived here – is that I feel safe. Moorages are pretty safe, there’s people around most of the time and it’s just a friendly, neighborly situation where we all watch out for each other – so it’s a very safe place to grow old[er.]

    The downside, though, of staying put for these 10 years, is that those things that I was told would need fixing – now need fixing.

    When you move every seven or eight years, you don’t have to deal with a lot of repairs on houses, new appliances, or other things that might need being done. You go out and buy another house that meets your new requirements.

    Well here I am, and I guess it’s time to start remodeling this house,

    because frankly – I really don’t feel like moving again.

     

    Thoughts? Comments?

    Thank you!

  • Staying Put For A Change

    October is my month of too many ambivalent feelings, many good and bad memories and way too many moves!

     

    But this October is different!

    I'm staying put and it is a record breaking event!

    Since leaving New York City, I have not lived in the same home for more than 8 years….

    Much as I do hate moving – I did it so regularly.

    Moving was usually preceded by fixing up the house – painting etc. before selling it.

    Now? I am in the same house for going on 9 years and the fixing up, painting and remodeling are all for ME!

    It is an odd feeling..

    I still don't love the rainy winters here – but I've learned to live with them – and since my son moved back to D.C. – I can go visit there or take a trip to another drier location…or stay here and ski [much more fun now that it is free]

    An oddball thing that I have learned from this is that some small appliances like toaster ovens and microwaves are made to last only 7-8 years! As I was moving and usually not taking them with me I never knew that…

    I know now as I have had to replace them..

    My next thought is: can I live here longer than I lived in NYC?

    Followed by: do I want to?

     

    Comments? Thoughts? Thank you.

  • Infographic: Inactivity Is Bad

    sitting for 3 hours is bad for you

    This is a follow up, in infogrpahic format, to the post on Inactivty is bad…

    These images, as fun as they are to make, still take way way too much time…

    but we are never too old to learn – right???    

     

    comments? thank you.

  • Moving – as a Liberating Experience

    I just spoke with a friend of mine who recently left a house and city she had been in for over 45 years!

    Last year when we spoke of her moving she was not sure she could leave the house where she had lived with her husband [who had since died] and her son [who left for college and moved on.] And, of course, all the “stuff” she had accumulated in that time ☺

    She had asked me how I did it – I told her I sold, tossed, shredded and burned and it was liberating to literally dump the past. For me that was 5 years ago and yes I sometimes miss some of the “stuff” I sold but those are momentary musings. But I had moved fairly frequently so I did not have decades of pack rat boxes around….she did.

    When she finally made the decision to move – she moved quickly! Sold her house, decided what to take, what to toss, etc. Now she is 1000’s of miles away from her old house – but near her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.

    She’s been there about a month and said she knows this was the right move and that it was liberating! We laughed about her going from a life in big cities [like me she is a native Nyer] to the Midwest…..She’s excited and that’s good.

    After that call I reflected on my own move. I went to a city where I knew no one – but it is a city. Unlike my friend, I had decided I needed to live in a city….but then I had my non-city years during which I learned I am a genetic city person.

    My friend, having learned something from me, has her vacation already scheduled –[NY and Boston for a month.]

    I did not feel liberated after my other moves so it may be the aging factor. Is it the shedding of accumulated “stuff” – and the experience of starting over? Is it the distance moved? Is the actual tossing and burning of papers once considered important? Does the shredding and burning represent a real liberation? A psychological breakthrough?

    No matter – now almost 5 years after my departure from New England, I am still feeling liberated. Have I accumulated more “stuff?” Yeah – but as I have a very small house the amount is almost determined for me ☺

    So – moving can be a liberating experience. It need not be traumatic or sad or anything else. Maybe it’s when we can make the decision ourselves instead of it being made for us. If you are happy, healthy and able to look ahead and not dwell on the past – Liberation – here we come!

    glyconutrients, healthy aging, growing older, aging, nutrition, exercise, eating properly,