“Restart, Not Reinvent: The Quiet Power of Beginning Again at Any Age”

No doubt you’ve seen hundreds of articles about New Year’s resolutions or leaving bad habits behind. While some may be inspiring, others can be exhausting to contemplate, especially when research shows that most of us lose the motivation to continue sometime in February!

If this is you, take heart, there’s a different way to look at the new year, and the opportunity it brings to make some small changes that future you will thank you for.

So many resolutions get abandoned because we start off too optimistic about the radical change we imagine we can make. The stakes are too high, the road too difficult and without daily support and encouragement, it quickly feels impossible and we give up.

It’s also true that New Year’s Resolutions have spawned whole industries, determined to part you from your cash at the leanest time of the year, by promising the life of your dreams.

However, there is another way, beyond wild fantasies or jaded cynicism. January 1st is just another day. You don’t have to wait for it to make any changes, and if you don’t start until August 20th, you haven’t failed. The truth is, we’re constantly changing. Cells are aging and dying, new ones are being forged, from your bone structure to blood cells and even your neurons. The body (including your brain) is constantly replenishing itself, and it’s guided by the things you do.

If you lift more things, or move around more, muscle fibers become stronger. If you sit all day, they get weaker. These changes are constantly happening, minute by minute, throughout your life.

And that is tremendously good news because it means you don’t have to take on a grand challenge to perfect anything. Just ask yourself, what do you enjoy doing, what would you like to do more of, or what new thing would you like to try.

Then ask yourself, what would make it easier to achieve that? And start doing a little more of that.

Ricky liked playing golf. As he got older, he became more fatigued and cut back on his weekly game. Until one day he realized he hadn’t been out with his buddies on the course for months. He felt lonely and so started taking a short walk after lunch every day. Initially it was just five or ten minutes, but he gradually increased the distance until he felt he could manage to be on his feet enough to swing his clubs again.

Elaine is a fashionista and used to love choosing new styles, helping her friends and herself keep their wardrobes fresh and up to date. But her arthritis made it hard to get in and out of vehicles, or walk up and down stairs, so she tried shopping online but it wasn’t the same. She asked a physical therapist at her community what she could do and he helped her strengthen her muscles and improve her range of motion. She realized that daily movement, from swimming to walking, helped her arthritis and she felt less pain. She started to take short shopping trips again, delighting in feeling the fabrics, putting various items together and seeing the effect on her friends.

Most of us have hobbies or activities that require us to be able to move around independently – as simple as walking, standing, bending and sitting. These are fundamental exercises we need to be able to preserve our mobility and independence. When you perform these movements, you’re also training your balance to control your body within your base of support, rather than falling over.

And because your body is constantly repairing and changing, it’s never too early or too late to include movements to improve your balance and independence. So rather than getting fired up about a complete reinvention on New Year’s Day, why not start now with a small step forward? Get curious about what you discover, and know that whatever you choose, your body will be optimizing for that.

If this appeals, and you want to add more structure to the exercises you choose and understand how daily choices affect your balance, consider Zibrio’s BalanceCoach app, which has introductory information for free, and the option to subscribe to premium content for just $5.99 per month.

If you are involved in resident engagement in a senior living community and would like to know more about our structured Fall Reduction program and Better Balance Club, please contact us to discover how implementation could work for your residents.