Habit
AI generated cover with my actual photo
The Habits That Built a Healthy Life
Success is often attributed to talent, genetics, or luck. While those things can certainly play a role, I have come to believe that most success is the result of something far less glamorous: small, consistent actions repeated over time. Our habits shape our future. They influence our health, our careers, our relationships, our mindset, and ultimately the quality of our lives. The right habits, practiced consistently, can lead to remarkable transformations.
No matter where I am speaking, someone inevitably asks about my health and fitness journey. The truth is, there is no secret. Fitness was not something I suddenly discovered in my sixties. It was a habit that began many decades ago. I remember when I was eight or nine years old, my father installed a chin-up bar in our basement and introduced me to age-appropriate calisthenics. Looking back, he was teaching me much more than exercise. He was teaching me discipline, consistency, and the value of taking care of my body.
I also took swimming lessons and spent countless hours riding my bicycle around the neighborhood. Exercise was not something I had to force myself to do, it was simply part of life.
A few years later, my mother came home with a beginner's weight bench and a set of weights she had purchased during a K-Mart Blue Light Special. If you are old enough to remember those flashing blue lights, you are probably smiling right now.
That weight set changed everything.
It marked the beginning of a lifelong love affair with strength training. During my teenage years, I experimented with various athletic pursuits. As a college freshman, I even spent some time in gymnastics. Eventually, however, I found my home in the individual sport of competitive bodybuilding. While I no longer compete, the habits developed during those years never left me. They became part of who I am. Today, when people ask how I stay active and healthy, the answer is simple: I never stopped.
Turning Sixty
For many people, turning sixty is viewed as the beginning of decline. Society often tells us that our best years are behind us and that aging is something to fear. My experience has been quite different. As I edge toward 62, this era has been one of the most rewarding chapters of my life. By this age, many of us have accumulated decades of wisdom, life experience, and resilience. We have survived setbacks, celebrated victories, experienced heartbreak, and learned lessons that could never be taught in a classroom.
Of course, aging brings change. There are wrinkles where smooth skin once existed. There is a little more sagging and perhaps a little more fat than we would prefer. And let us not even discuss the mysterious hairs that seem to appear overnight in places they have absolutely no business growing. But aging also brings perspective. It gives us an opportunity to focus less on appearances and more on what truly matters: living a healthy, purposeful, and fulfilling life.
One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that health is far more than the absence of disease. True wellness includes four important dimensions:
Physical health
Mental health
Emotional health
Spiritual health
When these areas work together, they create the foundation for a vibrant and meaningful life.
Physical Health: Keep Moving
As we age, our bodies naturally change. Muscle mass declines, metabolism slows, and recovery takes longer than it once did. The good news is that many of these changes can be managed through healthy habits. For me, movement remains non-negotiable. That does not mean training for a bodybuilding competition or trying to look twenty-five again. It means staying active.
A healthy routine should include:
Cardiovascular exercise such as walking
Strength training to maintain muscle and bone density.
Stretching to preserve flexibility
Balance exercises to reduce the risk of falls.
My goal today is not to become an elite athlete. My goal is simply to keep moving.
Fuel Your Body Well
Our bodies perform best when we provide them with quality fuel. Over the years, I have learned the value of focusing on:
Lean proteins
Fruits and vegetables
Whole grains
Healthy fats
Plenty of water
I have also learned that consistency beats perfection. Small, healthy choices made repeatedly over time will almost always outperform the latest fad diet.
Never Underestimate Sleep
When I was younger, I treated sleep as optional. Now I understand its value. Sleep is when the body repairs itself, strengthens the immune system, and supports brain function. Protecting your sleep may be one of the healthiest decisions you can make.
Stay Ahead of Health Issues
One of the smartest habits we can develop as we age is preventive care. Regular checkups, screenings, colonoscopies, mammograms, dental visits, eye exams, and vaccinations help identify problems before they become serious. Good health is not just about reacting to illness. It is about proactively protecting the future version of yourself.
Keep Exercising Your Mind
Just as muscles require exercise, so does the brain. I have always believed that curiosity is one of the keys to staying young.
Read books.
Take classes.
Learn new technology.
Explore artificial intelligence.
Challenge yourself to learn something new.
Growth does not stop because we age.
In many ways, aging gives us more freedom to learn things we never had time for before.
Stay Connected
One of the greatest threats to health as we age is not disease. It is isolation. Relationships matter. Stay connected to family, friends, neighbors, community groups, and volunteer organizations. Meaningful conversations nourish both the mind and the heart.
Take Care of Your Emotional Health
Life in our sixties often includes significant transitions. Retirement. Loss of loved ones. Changing family dynamics. Health concerns. Identity shifts. Through it all, emotional honesty becomes important. Allow yourself to feel joy, sadness, excitement, disappointment, and grief. These emotions are not signs of weakness. They are signs of being human.
I have also found gratitude to be one of life's most powerful medicines. Many evenings I pause and reflect on a few things that brought me joy during the day. Sometimes it is something significant. Other times it is as simple as a beautiful sunset, a good conversation, my weekly Zoom call with my mother, or a hot cup of coffee. Gratitude changes our perspective.
Continue Living with Purpose
Retirement should never mean retiring from purpose. Human beings thrive when they feel useful. Purpose can be found in mentoring others, volunteering, caring for family, creating something meaningful, or simply making a positive difference in someone's day. We all need a reason to get up in the morning.
Nurture Your Spiritual Health
Spiritual health is about finding meaning, connection, and peace. For me, that includes prayer, reflection, and spending time thinking about life's deeper questions. As we age, we become increasingly aware that time is precious. We begin asking questions like:
What truly matters?
What legacy will I leave?
How do I want people to remember me?
The answers often have little to do with money, titles, or possessions. They have everything to do with character. At the end of life, people rarely remember how much we owned. They remember our kindness. They remember our integrity. They remember our generosity. They remember how we made them feel.
Final Thoughts
Looking back, I am grateful for the habits my parents helped me develop all those years ago. What started with a chin-up bar in a basement and a weight bench purchased during a K-Mart Blue Light Special became a lifelong commitment to health and well-being. Those habits did not just help me build muscle. They helped me build a life.
The sixties can be an extraordinary decade. While aging brings challenges, it also brings wisdom, perspective, and the freedom to focus on what matters most.
Maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health does not require perfection. It requires intention. The goal is not simply to add years to your life. The goal is to add life to your years. And if you are fortunate enough to reach your sixties, you may discover—as I have—that some of life's best chapters are still waiting to be written.
Take care of yourself and each other!
