Who Do You Want to Be?

Who do you want to be? Where do you want to be?

Humor me for a minute. Let’s do a visualization exercise. 

You’re 85 years old and you’re sitting on the front porch in your trusty rocking chair. Leisurely watching the birds and the occasional passing car. 

Who are you in this moment? 

Are you someone who can easily get up from your chair on your own?

Are you someone who’s able to lift your arm to wave at the neighbor’s kid while he rides his bike by?

Is your mind reflecting on happy memories and all the good choices you made? 

Or are you ruminating on all the chances and opportunities you didn’t take when you had the chance? 

In theory, we all want to be mobile and have all our wits intact in our old age. But the disconnect is that it’s sooooo far away so maybe I’ll wait until LATER to focus on my health and wellness.

Mobility is something too many of us take for granted. Yet we all know someone (or multiple people) who is struggling to get around on their own. 

We turn our heads and try to ignore it because it’s uncomfortable to imagine ourselves in that state.  It’s a blatant display of what might lay ahead. 

But what IF you could get a jumpstart now on upping your chances of being far more independent for much longer?

The great news is that there is no IF about it. You CAN start right now and significantly improve your future quality of life. You can increase your health span, in addition to your lifespan. Having a longer life only matters if you have QUALITY of life. 

But Melissa, you only live once! 

EXACTLY. 

Using the visualization method, actually create your future life (your 85-95 year old self) and map out WHO you want to be. WHERE you want to be. And HOW you want to live. 

Then work backwards. 

What small steps can you take today? How can you increase those steps a week from now? A month from now? How will you stay consistent? What systems do you need in place?

Of course it’s hard. Figuring out where to start is hard. Getting up every day and showing up is hard. Doing what you need to do when you don’t feel like it is hard. 

But sitting in that rocking chair, years from now, thinking about all the things you should have done is even harder. Having to sit in that chair and wait for someone to help you out of it is hard.

Disappointment is hard. 

You can do this. I know you can. Stop letting that voice in your head talk you out of doing what serves you. That voice in your head isn’t being totally honest with you. That voice will be singing a very different tune years from now. Then what? 

Choose your hard.