Previously, I was at an outside dance event where I saw a 70 something year old woman in trendy boots dancing up a storm on the dance floor. A friend with me commented, “she’s got the right attitude, it is important to keep moving!” She was full of energy and happiness dancing away with her friends. She also reminded me of others who have stories about keeping moving. Another friend met her older husband at a tango dance event. Now, they are happily married and both keep moving with tango dance marathons across the country as well as tango dancing while on vacation in Spain, other parts of Europe and South America to applause of the crowds in the plazas and piazzas. Another nonagenarian cousin of a friend keeps moving with pickle ball after switching over from tennis in her 80’s. She still keeps moving with travel, but said recently, “I might just switch to domestic travel only now in my mid 90’s since international travel recovery takes longer now.” In my opinion, that’s extraordinary at that age and a life goal, if I keep moving now to be able to do that, God willing, in my 90’s. My Korean father-in-law enjoys fishing as an octogenarian and takes public transportation in Seoul to graduate school art classes every week. He played basketball into his later years as well. All of these people are powerful examples of the importance to keep moving and inspire means others.
These reflections reminded me of listening to my Mama saying to Daddy, you got to get up and keep moving, no matter how little movement it is, do what you can because if you sit still that chair will sap all your energy and soon you won’t be able to move at all.
Looking back at my parents and older relatives, the ones that seemed to do the best, even when serious illness and old age challenges set in, were the ones that kept moving while they could. My grandmother walked often every day for as long as I can remember way back in my childhood, and she lived a long life even after difficulties with surviving cancer. Daddy and his siblings were playing softball into their 40’s and 50’s at our family reunions, sliding into bases, which may have been a bit too much as their wives had to put liniment on their sore joints afterwards, but they kept moving and enjoying life.
Keep moving is also good advice for working towards professional and personal goals. I’ve talked before about my challenge with always wanting things to be perfect. So much so that my focus on perfection would not only block me from finishing work towards goals, sometimes it even blocked me from getting started. Last year I embraced the mantra of ‘progress not perfection,” which has served me well with getting started on work towards my goals and making significant progress, even though it wasn’t perfect. The mantra of keep moving is another way of looking at progress not perfection. Don’t just think about making progress and taking actions, even if not perfect, do it consistently, keep moving with your work towards goals. If you focus on progress not perfection followed by keep moving, one day soon you will look up and be pleasantly surprised just how far you’ve come in reaching your goals.
As always, I encourage you to reflect on your own stories where you’ve kept moving on a regular basis. How did it physically help you? What were your benefits? Also, what were the benefits you experienced not only physically but also logistically when you kept moving towards your goals? Like any physical activity, there are times when you do need to stop and rest. Mama always reminded me to rest my body when needed. But as she told Daddy too, after you rest, keep moving. Your body and your spirit will thank you as you retain the ability to move well into your advancing years and as you continue making progress towards your goals. Keep moving and remember always that Your Story Matters.
