Methodical Atrophy

What do you want to be able to do when you are 90 years old?

Immediately, this makes me think of what I don’t want. 

I don’t want to be using a walker. I want to be mobile. 

I don’t want to be a burden on others. I want to be self-sufficient. 

I don’t want to be frail or obese. I want to be fit and healthy. 

I don’t want to suffer from severe cognitive decline. I want to be sharp as a tack. 

Looking back, there is a clear theme here. 

I want to be healthy. 

Dr. Peter Attia focuses on preventative medicine and it resonates with me deeply. I don’t want to be treating issues after they surface, I want to be preventing them. 

I don’t want to live 10 years of my life, wishing to die due to my perpetual state of suffering. 

He asks where you want to be at 90, so you can develop a vision to work back from—identifying what you need to do now to atrophy to where you want to be. 

Feels kind of morbid when framed that way. 

Yet, I’d rather think of it this way and control my controllables than get to 50 and realize that I had spent the last 20 years setting myself up to be in the exact position I don’t want to be in. 

I’d rather put the work in now so I can face a sharp decline when it is my time to die (assuming I don’t get Regina Georged crossing the street one day). 

But what I want doesn’t matter. 

What do you want to be able to do when you are 90? More importantly—how are you going to make that a reality?