Moderation and I have never met. I’m sure she is nice but something in me always pushes her away. This dates back to my early childhood and memories of speed eating apples, and OD’ing on coca-cola on my brothers Bar Mitzvah (I was eight). What is a boy to do other than follow his youthful urges? Eat drink and be merry has always worked for me in the past.
But here I am at forty-nine wondering if maybe middle age isn’t time for a bit of moderation. Also it couldn’t hurt show my children a more mellow example of living life. But the flip side is I am very happy and full of energy and searching for a reason to moderate within my sea of relative bliss.
I was talking to my chiropractor about this and asked her for a good reason to moderate. “Longevity”, was her quick reply. I didn’t have to think long about this because one of my main raps in teaching is that the point is to age gracefully and live a long healthy life.
So now the question is what are we talking about in terms of longevity? Am I giving up 2 years for a little vice or I am I sacrificing fifteen years. Fifteen years might make me thing twice while two years is a deal with the devil that I would happily make.
I have to admit that I feel extremely lucky that these are my most pressing concerns.