I have come to realize there are four stages in a man’s life when it comes to physical activity.
I’m not talking about sports or sex. What I mean by physical activity is doing work around the house, particularly work that involves strength. Like lifting heavy objects, moving them around and putting them on high shelves. That sort of thing.
I’ll describe the stages and then discuss.
The first stage is when you are so young and maybe not all that strong. At that point, there are a lot of things you just cannot do. You watch your dad or uncle or older brother do them and look forward to growing up enough that you can do them.
The second stage lasts the longest. You’re fully grown and in your prime. You may not be able to do every job there is, but most of the time, if there are things to do in your world, you can do them and be proud of yourself.
The third stage is a transition. You can’t do everything you were able to do in your prime, and some of the things you can do cost you dearly when it comes to physical pain.
The fourth stage is sort of like the first, although you don’t progress from it. You are no longer able to do many of the things you once did, and the list of things you cannot do gets longer and longer. This stage ends when you die.
I’m somewhere in the third stage now. I’m heading into my mid seventies and I’m working hard to lose weight and get my blood sugar back under control. I’m having moderate difficulty with my balance and I’m dealing with arthritis-type pains in my neck, my lower back, my hips and my left knee.
The knee is actually a different type of pain. I have written before about how the misdiagnosis of a torn ligament when I was 16 left me without a medial collateral ligament. I had arthroscopic surgery several years ago, and the doctor told me when the pain got to be too much to bear, he would do knee replacement surgery for me.
At any rate, we have an excellent handyman who does most of the things I can no longer do. But Sunday I was in the garage with my wife, moving things around and lifting some of them to the upper shelves.
If you look on the right side of the top shelf, you will see fairly large and fairly heavy pieces that are the leaves to expand our dining room table. The other things on the top shelf weren’t difficult for me to place, but the size and weight of the leaves pretty much meant the only way I could get them up there was using a ladder.
At any rate, I managed to do it and a number of easier chores. I got everything done, but my lower back was barking like a kennel full of dogs.
The part that bothered me was that I hadn’t done anything all that difficult. Two or three years ago, I could have done it without the pain. Two or three years from now, I might not be able to do it at all.
All I can do is the best I can for as long as I can.