During my birthday last March, a month that left me grateful and in a tizzy, I got a unique message from the BFF of my mom Sonia Mayor, my Tita Marcia “Chi” Jesena. Like my mom, she is in her seventies but is still slender, smart and sprightly.
Tita Chi’s birthday greeting went: “Don’t slow down. There is no need to worry about taking a rest. Just live every single day to the fullest. Happy birthday!”
Whoa. Hardly the message you would expect from a senior citizen to a mid-lifer. Don’t slow down.
Usually, career women like me, who endeavor to juggle a life as well as a living, are advised to take it easy. Take it slow. And here was my mom’s BFF encouraging me to do just the opposite.
I liked that. It was like saying, “Bacon is good for your heart — when all my life I have been made to believe in the opposite.” (Come to think of it, bacon is a staple of the now trendy Ketogenic diet. I know of at least two friends who have lost 20 pounds with the low-carb, high-fat and high-protein diet.)
Resting doesn’t mean slowing down. It means recharging for that burst of energy that you need to samba through life. Push that pause button when life is too much of a whirl. The good thing about the “pause” button is that you can easily release it and go forward with whatever it is that gives your life meaning.
If one’s health permits, one should samba through life. It’s exhilarating.
***
During the much-needed Holy Week break, I told my son Chino that though I reveled in the rest the four-day break gifted me with, I find work exhilarating.
He told me he wasn’t surprised and said some studies actually show that in some “Blue Zones” (i.e. regions of the world where people live active lives past the age of 100 years) like Okinawa, people don’t slow down on work or socializing if their minds and bodies allow it. People don’t retire as a matter of course but as consequence of need. There are reportedly taxi drivers who are 80 years old.
The swivel chair is preferred to the rocking chair.
Indeed, Wikipedia says Japan has the highest life expectancy of any country: 90 for women and for men, 84. There are more than 400 centenarians in Okinawa.
In the Philippines, two prominent nonagenarians former Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile and Ambassador Bienvenido Tantoco Sr. remain physically and mentally active. Enrile will reportedly even appear in the Senate impeachment court for the trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Lolo Benny, for his part, goes to Starbucks every day, and at social gatherings, still insists on getting on his feet when ladies request to have a photo with him.
Both my grandfathers, war hero Col. Nazario B. Mayor of Bugsuk Island in Palawan and gentleman-farmer Igmedio C. Reyes of Bongabon, Oriental Mindoro lived to their mid-nineties. Perhaps island life and healthy living worked for my Tatay Igmedio, and a happy disposition and the desire to live life to the fullest was the elixir for my jet-setting Grandpa Nazario.
One thing is certain with both grandfathers: they didn’t slow down and they loved what they were doing — farming for my Tatay Igme and traveling for my Grandpa Nazario — till the final curtain went down on the long-running saga of their lives.
***
I asked my sister Dr. Geraldine Mayor, a psychiatrist practicing in Philadelphia, why not slowing down is good for slowing down the aging process.
“With aging there is brain cell death. Only new learning grows new brain nerve cells that can make up for the lost ones. Routine is not beneficial to fighting aging of brain,” she says.
According to Geraldine, simple strategies like learning to cook new recipes, learning new routes to a favorite destination or taking up a new hobby can stimulate new brain cell growth.
“In fact, when I read about a friend’s new farming venture, it occurred to me how well she is ensuring her brain’s vibrancy in the years to come,” Geraldine points out.
So my Tita Chi is right. Live every single day to the fullest. Learn how to paint. Take up French. Travel to Machu Pichu or Iceland or Siargao.
The only thing you should slow down is aging, not living.
Summer creative writing classes for kids & teens
Make the summer of kids and teens worthwhile with creative writing classes. A writing workshop titled “Young Writers’ Hangout” will be held on April 7, 14, 21 and 28; May 12, 19 and 26; and June 2 (independent sessions). A workshop titled “Wonder of Words” is slated on May 7, 9, 11, 14, 16 and 18 (six-day workshop). For registration fee and details, e-mail writethingsph@gmail.com or call 0945-2273216.
(You may e-mail me at joanneraeramirez@yahoo.com.)