Its only a journey

Subject: It was only a journey.

You could say that people 60 years ago were relatively laid back at the prospect of dying. Their lifestyle was not ring fenced with do's and don'ts, with what to eat or drink, or a regime of exercise. Even expectations of what the medical fraternity could do if you fell ill, was treated with some scepticism .  Death was an expectation, it was given a date or a span of years, usually 70 years if you were a man and 75 years a women, and people who passed these milestones were seen as special but not necessarily blessed since ageing brings its own discomfort.
Today we are encouraged  into doing what is good for us on the assumption that if you follow the advice you will live longer. This vision of living longer fixates many people as they pound the street, mile after mile, running like metronomes, ticking off the seconds as if they matter. They rise early to be at the gym to compete in a sort of fixated self adulation, a fitness fanaticism which is encouraged by advertising to buy this running shoe or this bike and you will improve, or a self imposed image thing about the way we want to look and present ourselves to others.
There is no doubt the trade off for those hours spent exercising is the feel good factor. Not just the bulky muscles to parade on the beach but the endorphins released in the brain which provide the person with a mental boost.  Of course not everyone feels they need a boost and some would even say, spending hours of the day running, skipping, bending is a waste of time. For many the very idea of exercise is painful as they munch their crisps on the couch watching Netflix. For them the dream is a box set of East Enders.
So how did we become so self absorbed, so fixated on our lifestyle and longevity. Perhaps 60 years ago the church played a larger part in our conscienceless and the idea that there was something else after this life gave us added perspective as to the importance we attach to these three score and ten. The agnostic after all has to cram as much into the life here on earth given it's all they have.
One of the things which nourishes me as I look back on my life is the variation. There has been no exceptionality just a confident process of experiencing the pleasure of each stage. A wonderful childhood blessed with loving parents who allowed me to proceed at my own pace, never over protecting. My decision to escape the conformity of growing up in this class ridden society with its myriad glass ceilings, rather to snuffle and poke around in many different countries learning as I went. The enormous privilege of having a family and raising kids, watching them grow and form their own personalities. The latter years of returning to find that not much has changed and being frustrated by that yet at the same time recognising the advantages of living here in relative security, particularly when growing old.
A life of stepping stones of uncovering not only ones own talent but of recognising the inevitability of getting things wrong and moving on to make what ever you can of life without the envy of wishing things were different.
The bubble we create for ourself is our bubble and therefore we better know who we are and what we stand for rather than some wishy washy contrivance imposed from above. To have the values which Kipling so famously set down in his poem 'If'.