Just Joshin' #119 (Aging)
1 Family Photo:
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I started training jiu jitsu when I was 25.
In the first years, I participated in a few jiu jitsu competitions—I hesitate to say competed...I was never a contender for a championship.
Jiu Jitsu competitions are broken into divisions by age/weight/gender. I fought in the Adult division (ages 18-29), usually losing my matches to some 20-year-old who only trained jiu jitsu and didn't have a job.
"That's ok," I told myself, "in a few years I can compete in the Masters division (age 30+). I'll dominate."
There's a catch, of course. It didn't occur to me that by the time I was eligible to compete in Masters, I too would be 30. Back then, when I looked at the old guys in the training room with me, I didn't see that I was also aging.
Last week in the gym, after rolling a couple rounds with a college student, the kid asked me how old I was.
"Nice!" he said. "Masters II" (the division for age 36+). "Are you going to compete?"
Who would win in a fight: 25-year-old me or 35-year-old me? I don't know. I know 25-year-old me wouldn't be sleep deprived from waking up in the middle of the night to change diapers.
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Father Time is undefeated.
In high school, I played on the varsity volleyball team. I could jump up and grab the rim of a basketball hoop with my fingertips.
Around that time, there was another high school student who was really good at basketball. He was on magazine covers. They said he could be one of the best basketball players in the world. Now, 20 years later, he's past his athletic prime. Somehow, miraculously, he is still one of the best basketball players in the world.
It won't last forever. Last season, he was the oldest player in the NBA. This season too.
The philosopher Joe Rogan one said, "You get 20 summers." I don't remember the context. Was he referring to athletic performance? General hotness? Watching children grow? (I very much doubt it was the last one, though it feels applicable).
At max, we only have a few more seasons of watching LeBron James play basketball. In the meantime, following his career has distorted my expectations of aging and athleticism.
Staring up at a basketball hoop, the rim looks higher than it used to be. Frankly, when I bend to scoop up a basketball rolling across the court, the ball seems lower than it used to be.
Talking about aging, my friend Peter noted that people different fields peak at different times. Part of what makes us old is "at what point in your life do people stop describing you in terms of your potential?"
The median age of an NBA player is 25. I'm beginning to think I might not make it to the pros.
Father Time is undefeated.
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Tony Hawk Lands His Last-Ever Ollie 540, Aged 52
1 Dad Joke:
Leaves of Grass
Highlights:
On Aging
Tips on Keeping Healthy and On Aging by William Stearman (1922-2021)
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As famous movie star Bette Davis once put it, ”Old age is no place for sissies.” But on the other hand, that great French actor/entertainer Maurice Chevalier once noted, “Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternatives.”
Gentle Is The Joy That Comes With Age by Anne Lamott
Older age can be a balancing act — how much to put out, how hard to try, how much to let go. And if things aren’t working, how to accept that with grace.
I have always been lifted by the bulbs we planted in winter’s cold, rocky soil, breaking through hilariously bright and fresh. But I’m so moved now by aged trees, like some nearby old English walnuts. They do their thing for a couple of glorious months a year, loaded with white blossoms, made to make seeds to make more trees. Then they’ve had it. They get old — no need to put makeup on those wrinkled petals any longer. They fade and fall to the ground for the year. But oh, the beauty of old beings, old trees and old us. We made it through. We did our work. And if I’m here in the joy of next spring, I’ll love them again.
How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year by Ashlee Vance
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Johnson's lifestyle isn't for me. In September, shortly before I walked up to his door in Venice for dinner, he texted to warn me that he'd just had some fat injected into his face and seemed to be suffering from an allergic reaction to the excruciating procedure. As a result, he said, he might look a little weird.
How to be More Agentic by Cate Hall
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