Just curious, what point of view makes daily running seem sad? Is the premise that he missed out on ‘better’ things?
Thought I’d ask since hearing these stories of old healthy people brings me so much happiness.
Thought I’d ask since hearing these stories of old healthy people brings me so much happiness.
If I was to guess, it's similar to the tone of the article. You can't beat time.
Eventually they'll be forced to stop and there's a particular sadness in watching those who used to be able to do great feats no longer do them.
For me, it's the same sadness as watching a sharp mind like my grandfather's succumb to alzheimer's. It's not quick, and it's not painless for everyone involved. For me, it was years watching him forget me, his daughter (my mother), and eventually language all together.
Better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all?
Absolutely, otherwise what's the point of living if not experiencing life in its more intensive (more rewarding but also more hurting) aspects?
Similar to ie mountaineers and various other extreme sports folks, they all love the life more than average Joe since they experienced how much it can give if you push it further. Despite what some think they are not suicidal, in contrary, they keep doing what they love despite the increased risk of losing it all prematurely. No adventurer regrets doing adventures when looking back.
That's literally survivorship bias. I wonder how many (say) climbers died in the Himalayas thinking "I wish I hadn't done this".
But to your point, i also love hearing stories of old people defying our expectations of what an old person should be able to do.
Aside from practical limitations, health, economic prosperity, I'm of the opinion that there's value in staying compelling by exploring your curiosities instead of dismissing them in favour of protecting your current happiness. In order to have resilient connections with others, you need to find ways to stay attractive over time, and it's a consequence of doing new things from time to time, travel maybe being one of them.
There’s a lot to do on most continents.
There's a lot to do in most cities, even. I think you could spend all your free time exploring, e.g., London and you'd be good for a few years worth.
> He has no idea what it's like to even book a flight, how much it really costs, how security procedures have changed over time
TBH I don't think that's something to miss. I'd be pretty happy to not know that either. Unless you're writing a book about air travel security, that's probably not worth any attention.
It's more of a personal revulsion I have against having pride in being ignorant, and then relying on ancient knowledge only to inform current and future decisions. "Flying is a hassle and expensive" just isn't true in many but not all cases. It's one thing to have a preference, it's another to have prejudice, and I think ignorance turns into prejudice if you go long enough without re-evaluating the criteria you once used.
In the worst case, the depth-first life leaves a person mostly useless except for at least one deep skill, but the breadth-first life in the worst case can leave a person completely useless since no skills have been developed past an arbitrarily superficial level.
These are, of course the extreme ends where life has been well wasted. :)
Often an inheritance comes with an upbringing full of entirely different experiences, culture, and values from those who do not inherit much if anything. Deep knowledge and skills are naturally imbued into the next generation without much deliberate effort despite the fact that someone did put in much deliberate effort to manifest that situation. Every lineage begins with someone who had to learn it all the hard way.
That's an interesting way to put it. I certainly wouldn't say I have much ambition to leave the continent either. If the time and money come up, there's places I'd like to go, and maybe I will some day. It's not a big life goal I'm working towards though.
With a bit of effort we could afford say, 5k, to go off for a couple weeks and do the tourist things in basically any region that piques our interest. That same amount of money could provide both of us a lot more growth and enjoyment without leaving the US.
I used to be the former, with a great fear of missing out on all life has to offer. Lately though I'm the latter, realizing the immense joy in existing.
I felt like it was a privilege to get to know something that deeply.
But I’m also somebody who doesn’t ever plan to leave the US or even get on a plane again because there’s so much worth seeing right outside my front door!
If you wanted to you could fairly easily use that memorized route to memorize anything else you wish to.
Every day might get a little monotonous, but a couple times a week is doable (and enjoyable) for sure!
There're tons and tons of details that are hard to notice if you ain't coming back for a hundredth time.
It’s not the only route I walk, but I was surprised myself that I almost never found it boring.
If you at all get into a bit of nature, it is so much more varied than the daily route between the computer and coffee machine at home for example.
I think people misses that comparison.
Meta: I don't get how people claim to be curious about other's perspectives, then when someone shares a perspective they downvote it because it's not the same as their own.
Have you read the article? That gentlement is not actually healthy and some other activities could contribute to a better health.
What activities would be better? He eats well, exercises and has a social life; sounds pretty good to me?
> Raven has chronic back pain, spinal stenosis and vertigo. His feet hurt so much — from bone spurs and calluses — that he runs with his New Balance sneakers untied.
"Running" for 3 hours a day likely contributes to all that. Mixing it up would be an idea. Biking, swimming, kayaking, rowing, tennis, badminton, taking walks, there is so much you can do.
Being stubborn is not a healthy character trait, even though sometimes people hail it as "inspiring". What this guy inspires me to be is to ensure I never turn into him.