This article was originally posted on the site in 2012, but we are posting it again as a StrengthCoach Classic to serve as a refresher and so newer members can see it.
Sometimes no one can make you better. They can only make you smarter.
We cannot undo the sand through the hourglass or turn back the hands of time. Years of wear and tear on the body are like miles on a car. No one can turn back the odometer. You can only figure out how to drive the gradually aging car better.
In my business I see a fair amount of people with what I call “lifelong patient syndrome.”
They spend every day searching for the magic pill, or the magic chiropractor, or the magic exercise, or the magic doctor. They think ‘one more surgery” or “a different approach”. They always seem to be either hurt, rehabbing or doing what hurt them in the first place.
The fact of the matter is that if you want to stay active you have to make choices.
I have often used the analogy of getting your hand slammed in a car door. It hurts. A lot.
No one says “I can't wait to get healthy so I can go back to slamming my hand in the door”.
Why don't we think that way about running, or bench pressing? When you know what hurt you, why do you go back to it? Why is it not like the car door?
When I was young I loved playing sports. I loved lifting heavy weights, playing endless hours of basketball. Eventually I even enjoyed going for a run on the Charles River. I can no longer do so many of my favorite things. I long for them but don't look for a magic bullet that will allow me to do them again. I know the magic cure does not exist. Time heals all wounds except those caused by time.
At 52 I'm happy. I can work. I can demonstrate every exercise I need my athletes to do. I can play with my kids. I can take a swim, play catch ( but not for too long) and go for a walk. Please do yourself a favor. Accept the things you can no longer do with grace. Save on your medical bills and your time and accept that aging is a process that begins all too soon.