Movement is Life

Many people have no choice – they must move. Move for safety, food, shelter, survival, or a better life. Most of us fortunate enough to live in the United States have the opposite problem: modern life has made it possible for us to not move at all.

One thing I wish I'd done when I was younger was exercise more - stay more active. I moved constantly through high school and most of college. Then came graduation, marriage, and life got in the way. I thought I was invincible. I stopped exercising regularly and gained weight. I didn't prioritize my physical health, and I regret that now.

The chronic conditions I carry are a heavy reminder of the choices I made. I don't blame every health problem on those choices; life isn't that simple. Genetics, luck, circumstance, and biology all have their say. But I do wish I had understood sooner that taking care of your body isn't something you do because you're afraid of dying. You do it because you want to keep living.

I have become fascinated by places where people routinely live long, healthy lives. Much has been written about the so-called Blue Zones, but one characteristic has always interested me most. The people who live there don't necessarily spend hours in gyms. They simply keep moving. They walk. They garden. They work around their homes. Movement remains woven into the ordinary rhythm of their lives. There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about that.

I tell my children, both in their twenties, to stay active. Walk. Eat well. Take care of the bodies they've been given. They probably hear it the way I would have heard it at their age - as advice from someone who suddenly thinks he knows things.

Perhaps one of the dangers of getting older isn't simply that our bodies become less active. Maybe our minds can too. We decide what we believe and stop questioning it. We surround ourselves with people who agree with us. We hold tightly to old grievances. We stop being curious. We become certain about religion or politics or people or ourselves.

That may be why movement feels so much like searching to me. Neither promises that you'll arrive anywhere. Neither guarantees an answer. You simply take another step and trust that the step itself matters.

It's not too late. Keep moving or start if you haven't yet. Don't stay stagnant - physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually.

We were never meant to sit still.

We were only ever meant to keep moving and…keep searching.