It’s a common practice to check the expiration date on household products, especially those that we consume. We do this to make sure that we’re not taking anything internally that might have gone bad; the expiration date on the bottom of the item is a marker to tell us how long the manufacturer is guaranteeing that the particular product will stay fresh or ok for us to eat/take. In many cases, it’s still ok to use the product for days, weeks or perhaps months later, but it’s at our own risk. I’ve used milk longer than the noted date and for sure I’ve kept yogurt way longer. But there are some things that have a fixed expiration date and that is the subject of this article.
When we come into this world, we have lots of choices and one could argue that how we leave this life is partly of our doing depending on our life style choices. In terms of our genes, the diseases we could get might be altered based on eating well and exercising. However, at some point, we all have an expiration date. Would you want to know what that date is or are you just as happy not knowing?
I think that it’s better not to know. The new thing is to get gene testing and to see what diseases one may have a pre-disposition to. I believe it’s best to live a healthy life, to exercise, try to stay balanced as much as possible, to engage with others in a caring manner and hope for the best after that. One thing about living into my 7th decade is that I know what I look like approaching old age! I also know how I will feel. For a long time, I tried to stay young, as young as possible by telling everyone that “every day I get younger”. And for quite a long time this philosophy worked! But lately, I feel the fatigue, sometimes the brain fog, the occasional exercise aversion or if I do exercise, the muscle soreness afterwards making it more and more difficult to keep up my routine. In other words, I feel like I’m getting OLD. Oh no! it’s happening… My father never wanted to go to the senior center because that’s where old people were. I always thought that was funny. Now I realize that’s where I am. I have to decide if I will try to keep up or just take on other more leisurely pursuits just to have social interchange.
Regardless, we all have an expiration date and I will deal with mine as gracefully as I can. But not one day early. And, if possible, I’ll try to move it out for a bit…
As always, comments are welcome.
Posted by intuitivelifecoachjoanne 
Joanne's StarTeacher Blog 