How to Re-Boot Your Well-Being After a Health Set-Back in the 7th Decade
One of the best pieces of advice I can offer to support lifelong health is, “don’t let a health set-back become a new health set-point.”
Healthy habits aren’t just a one-time choice. They’re a series of small choices made day after day, week after week, month after month to build a foundation for well-being. Sprinkled in are the big choices you make in the face of adversity.
Life Changes and Challenges
Think about that for a minute. Life continually ebbs and flows.
Sometimes it’s hard to get started on the path to well-being, other times it’s easy to get started and hard to be consistent, and still other times – those wonderful times where you feel empowered and a little smug, perhaps – you’re consistently making good decisions that support your healthy lifestyle vision and goals.
But often, when you’re really in the flow – life intervenes with an illness or injury, work or family pressures that derail your great habits. This type of health set-back is a critical turning point, a fork in the road, and the direction you choose will determine your future health trajectory.
A Path to Recovery
In 2017, as part of a commitment to myself to be as fit and healthy as possible on my 60th birthday, I choreographed and performed a high energy dance piece with a local dance company. I was lean and fit, having fun, and feeling healthier than I had in a couple of years.
Then in early 2018, I hurt my back trying to maneuver a water tank that was far too heavy to manage. That started a year-long process of pain management, fits and starts back into a fitness routine, waking up feeling tired and sore, and hobbling around in frustration!
For the fist time in 10 years I had to pull out of the dance concert.
The whole year was a really interesting experience. I’ve always known that it’s easier to stay in good physical condition than to start from scratch and get into good shape – but that year I lived it.
It’s also easier to encourage positive aging expectations when you feel pretty good most of the time! Trying to navigate through both sleep and activity with pain and stay upbeat about retaining a healthy active lifestyle – regardless of age or challenges – was a lesson in humility.
Sometimes I felt like just saying, “To heck with it, I’ll just downsize my life!”
The Crossroads
Gratefully, I recognized this moment as a health crossroads and persisted with physical therapy and physical training until I could start fully reclaiming my lifestyle.
Knowing what it feels like to be physically strong and flexible motivated me through the initial discomfort of moving my body every day in ways that improve strength, mobility, and endurance. I recognized how much harder it would have been if I had never known how it felt to be physically fit.
I share this with you as both a confession and encouragement. I understand that consistently making choices that support well-being isn’t usually the easiest path. I also get how much determination it takes to navigate set-backs that threaten your vitality and independence.
This is especially true after 60 when family members, friends, and others seem more prone to offer a narrative along the lines of “well you’ve had a good run but it’s time to give that up.”
Conscious Choices
Absolutely no judgement if in response to a challenge, you choose to take something out of your life. But make sure it’s a conscious choice measuring the pros and cons – not just a default into “easier” or buckling under common negative expectations of what’s possible as we age.
I was back in rehearsals for the 2019 dance show, with a few concessions: perform one dance rather than two, warm-up longer, cool-down and stretch afterwards, and be more conscious of body mechanics every time! Both perseverance and adaptation have been key to continuing to do what I love!
I would love to hear your story.
Let’s Chat:
What health set-back are you negotiating? What keeps you moving forward? Have you felt like giving up? What strategies could you use to regain fullest function possible? Please use the comments below to share with the community.
Tags Healthy Aging
I’ve had primary lymphodema since I was an adolescent. It’s a progressive and disfiguring disease that no one seemed to know much about back then so I was mostly untreated.
Advances in science have resulted in improved treatments but alas it’s not curable you just have to manage it. When was young, it affected my self esteem greatly but now I’m nearly seventy I have learned self acceptance.
I wear my thigh high compression garment, I use a pump and I am grateful I can afford the medical help I need.
I’m retired, so I can exercise in the water every day. If I’m feeling off, I take a day off. I try to be kind to myself.
Self acceptance and kindness will always pay dividends!
My health set-back occurred when I was 52 and diagnosed with a head & neck cancer. The major surgery I had changed my life forever. It took 6 years to return to work full-time, much longer than expected, and even then it was too much and I opted for 80% and retired early in the end. I had to adjust my life to cope with constant headaches, and this took a while to figure out. My life became quieter than before surgery, and that’s OK. I had a recurrence of the same cancer 15 years later, and surgery again. However, this time the surgery was a breeze in comparison to surgery #1 because of advances in medicine. I still have headaches constantly from surgery #1, and I still prefer quiet to noise more than I did before my cancer diagnosis is 2007. I retired 8 years ago, and love retirement. I enjoy many activities and hobbies, provided I managed the headaches with appropriate rest and quiet. The major takeaway from my health set-back experience, and those of friends and family, is that sometimes you can bounce back completely and sometimes you can’t. It’s important to be positive, but realistic, too, and adapt one’s life as necessary. For me, life is still joyful, but it’s different, too, which is OK.
Thanks for sharing your story Janet! Adaptive strategies and finding joy regardless of challenges are amazing responses to setbacks.
Yes i think most of us have had set backs, things we didn’t think would happen but we got through it.
I had a total hip replacement 18 months ago, then ive found our i have cervical stenosis & retrolisthesis of my neck. So between my spine and my neck issue ive had a lot of pain in my upper back. I didnt want surgery and chose a regular osteopath appt and do physio exercisesc at home. Im not cured, but I am maintaining it and the pain level has greatly reduced.
I try to walk somehow every day which helps me sleep better.
Im considering going to water aerobics soon also.
Ive modified my exercise and listen to my body. Its good to read others stories and what helped them get back on the wagon!
Wishing you the best as you navigate this challenge. I hope water aerobics provides your body with additional support to allow more freedom of movement. It has been a big help to many people.
I am 72 and am needing bilateral knee replacements. I hope to schedule my first one soon, but am dreading the recovery. I also have spinal stenosis. They have exhausted every non surgical intervention, cortisone shots, ablation, physical therapy so the next thing is talking to a neurosurgeon. I will take care of my knees first but the whole ordeal has got me down. I used to go to the gym and work out but I haven’t been in many months. I am determined to not become immobile. Reading others journey is helpful.
My advice to you is if eventually you will need to have both knees replaced have both done at the same time. One operation, one rehab, one recovery.
Keep working with your medical team to create a surgical and recovery plan. You have the right attitude of doing what you can to stay mobile. Wishing you the best possible outcome.
I don’t know what I would do without water aerobics. It gives me a vehicle to move every part of my body and to even work hard at times- something I can no longer accomplish on dry land! Exercise seems to be the key to pain management, fatigue issues, and mental fitness.Go for it!
I agree! Water supports the body while it’s in motion. Movement of all kinds is critical to wellbeing. People often ask about the best exercise to do, and I always say it’s the one you’ll actually do! Keep on moving!!