Vol 4 Iss 2

So it’s the beginning of February, how are those New Year’s resolutions coming? I make my resolutions in September. It makes more sense to me. January is usually so frozen I can hardly think, let alone define ways to improve myself. September seems more like a beginning.

The only exception is taking advantage of my body’s natural tendency to drop those extra pounds I gained during the holidays in Feb/Mar. So, this is the only time of year I make any effort to lose weight. And it’s only for these two months. I exercise more vigorously and watch the calorie intake. My body does the rest. If I don’t reach my goal, and sometimes I don’t, then I let it go until next year. Working with my body makes more sense.

Speaking of health, I read an interesting op-ed piece the other day commenting America’s health rankings from the United Health Foundation. There are some surprising, promising results. More in the article below, but I’ll give you a hint: you’d better plan to live a loooong time!

And, be doing work you love. As long as you’re going to be around for a long time, no sense in torturing yourself any longer! :-D If you’re not sure of your right livelilhood, I can help you with that. Please give me a call.

“Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well find some way

If you knew you would live to 100, how would you live your life differently? I have a client who runs with a gerontologist. The good Dr. said that you can pretty much plan on the last 10 years of your life to be in declining health. He said it’s your choice whether it’s from 60 to 70, or from 90 to 100. His point being that your lifestyle choices influence your quality of life.

If you lived to 100, you would probably be productive well into your 80’s, possibly 90’s. There are hundreds of examples of people living meaningful useful lives in their later years. Are you doing work that will sustain you? Will you make a difference? These are relevant questions considering recent findings.

According to the report released in December by the United Health Foundation, Americans will live longer than ever before. In the past year (that’s ONE year) life expectancy at birth increased by 0.3 years to an all time high of 77.8. That translates to a 3-year gain in a decade.

Interestingly enough, the majority of the gains apply to those over 40. Prior to 1950, the gains were made mostly by improving things like infant mortality and reducing the number of deaths of infants and children. What’s different now are the improvements in the quality and access to medical care, improvements in personal habits and higher standards of living. The only factors of many that have not improved are obesity (which is increasing) and access to health insurance coverage.

If you’d like to view the whole report, here’s a link to the UHF website: http://www.unitedhealthfoundation.org/

The link to the report is in the upper right corner. Read it. Be inspired.

And think about what it means to you.

If you knew you had to do the same work you’re doing now for the next 30 years, how would you react? Are you doing work that sustains you? That inspires you? That makes a difference in the world? Is it interesting?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘no,’ then we need to talk. You have a long life ahead of you. You deserve a rich one.

You are free to use material from Moving Forward! in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read:

"By Debra DeVilbiss, CPCC, of Forward Momentum, LLC. Please visit Debra's website at http://www.ForwardMomentum.com for additional articles and resources on creating your right livelihood."

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