Mizzfit’s 2017 Female Role Model

How do we search for role models? Is there a particular algorithm that searches the internet’s historical records and spits out the ideal candidate? Or is it entirely random? Luckily, we can narrow this week’s search to female role models who inspire and motivate us, no algorithm required.

However, today I’m doing things a little more unstructured – there will be no one woman named, more like a whole group who have lately been inspiring me. I recently started a job which puts me in the company of many septuagenarians, octogenarians and nonagenarians – all with varying degrees of mobility and cognition.

This work has only emphasized to me how important it is to stay as healthy, strong and active as I can. We aren’t all guaranteed old age, but if we make it into those decades who do you think is having more fun – the one who can get around by herself, or the one who cannot?

And because we won’t all make it into those decades with our marbles intact, we better make damn sure to live our lives the best we can, and minimize regrets. Old age can be a scary thought with all its travails, but how much more scary is a life filled with missed opportunities and wasted hours, and then compounded onto that, dementia?

So, how have I been embracing life and minimizing regrets since starting my new job and meeting many different types of elderly women? Well, uhm, it’s been a steep learning curve, but for now I keep running, doing yoga, strength training, driving, reading, squeezing the cat, volunteering at the VA, journalling, texting family, washing the dishes, moisturizing my hands and enjoying my smoothies — all with that added knowledge that I’m lucky to be doing any of these activities, to be living and mobile and aware.

[Img.Src: Retirees by the beach. Women on a bench.]

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