Have you ever noticed that we as humans tend to cling onto things and generally resist change, but once we tackle a change, we start to tackle them in bunches. There’s plenty of research around stress and change that demonstrates a strange pattern of “taking on multiple stressors” at the same time during key periods of our lives. For example, it’s crazy how often people get married, change jobs and move from one home to another all within a very short period of time (e.g. weeks or months).
I too have traversed periods of turmoil and change, and have tended to keep my plate full and challenge-level to the max. Most of the time I do this simply because I prefer being a bit too busy, to having too much time on my hands – – I just do better with a bit of motivating stress.
So how does this fit under my “Diary of a Middle Age Man” semi-regular blog-post umbrella? It all came to me as I made a couple of appointments to see an optometrist and dermatologist, just after speaking with the general contractor who is working on a major remodel at my home. At first I thought I was just making an appointment with the optometrist, because it’s been a while and my nearsightedness has become a bit more severe over the last couple of years – – makes sense to see the doc. As a person who likes being outdoors in the sun hiking, fishing, golfing, skiing, surfing, running…. etc., I do see a dermatologist from time-to-time. Thus, I didn’t think much of it, until I looked out of my home office window onto a semi-demolished backyard, patio and pool area. The entire yard, which has served my family and I well just looked old and tired, and we we’re taking some steps to ensure it looked good and was there for us for years to come. As I continue to be surprised and “enjoy” the many signs of aging (some visible and some not), there is an inner desire to fight it. Now I’ve never been one to judge, but I’ll just put it out there that I’m not a fan of plastic surgery, or some of solutions out there that tend to make you look like you’re always scared, like you’ve been punched in the mouth, or like some variant of a mutant puffer fish. If it makes you happy, more power to you, but I think most people look better aging naturally. Having said this, I think my eye and skin appointments were definitely steps to include myself in the remodel process. I suppose if running Tough Mudders and being a bit crazy from time-to-time are part of my god given right to a mid-life crisis, I’ll take that over joining Hair Club For Men and buying a red convertible sports car.
To each his/her own, and there’s nothing wrong with taking on change in bunches and taking steps to take care of yourself, whether it be a “remodel” or simply routine maintenance.
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Small steps add up!!!