I found this message on Twitter and had to post it here.
Naturism.
Imagine being 75 and you’re thinking about your life.
How you never swam nude in the ocean on a warm night because your thighs jiggled. You never laughed until you couldn’t breathe, because your teeth weren’t straight or white enough. You never embraced the sun on your entire body because of the stretch marks on your stomach and hips. You never allowed yourself to let go and have fun, because the pressure to loo perfect consumed you.
Imagine being 75 and realising you’ve hidden yourself away for the fear of being real Imagine realising all the years you wasted hating yourself – but now it’s too late. Now it hurts to laugh for more than a few seconds, and you’re too weak to travel to the beach. Imagine realising all this time you were perfect the way you are.
Don’t let that happen.
Live now, as you are. You deserve to realise you’re enough, and always have been, before you’re 75.
That’s so true.My Mom was 73 before she swam nude.It was completely unexpected.She never had issues with me and my sister swimming nude,but she never had tried it.We were both surprised when she askwed if we minded because in the 18 years we had been doing it regularly she never had been interested.Once she tried it she couldn’t stop talking about how much better it felt.Sadly it was the last time she got to swim because later that year she had a heart attack and her health declined afterward.Further proof you should do what you want before it’s too late.
I’m glad she got to experience it, Scott. Better once than not having any idea…
I like the sentiment but it is vaguely unsatisfying to me.
I have innumerable things I wanted to do but they always got put off for later. Thousand-mile hikes, theatrical performances, travel, adventure. I am no longer physically capable of the hikes. I am no longer able to memorize things. I no longer have the resources to travel. I have coined a term for it. I call this state having “kicked the bucket list.” I’ve had to refill my bucket list repeatedly with less demanding projects only to have to dump that bucket out and reduce the scope of my dreams further still. Though I push myself to do what I can and try to find ways to compensate for what I cannot, it is disheartening.
I am not in particularly bad shape compared to others of my age. But… I had a bucket list. Most people do not. They live day to day and their life goals are simple. A comfortable life with some family and a few friends. Beer and football on the weekend and an occasional trip to somewhere different. Put in their 40-50 years of labor and then relax with a hobby or two and maybe the grandkids. I think the message will be lost on them.
There are some people who hit 75 and are still going strong. They are fit and they have a good retirement saved up. They haven’t been hit by severe arthritis or blindness or cancer or heart disease or whatever. For them, their “bucket list” is still viable. I think that is what almost all young people imagine their retirement will be like. They imagine with certainty that the promise of their Golden Years will be fulfilled. Asking someone in their 20s or 30s or 40s to ponder what their old age will be like is unrealistic. I fear the message will be lost on these folks too.
I think putting a specific age on it hurts the message. Bad things happen at any age. There are middle-aged people who are already too far gone while there are 85-year-old people hiking the Appalachian Trail. But then, I have no good suggestion on how to say it better. Maybe something like this:
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
Hi Fred, I think the original poster just picked a number, or referenced someone he/she knew. Maybe “before you’re old” would have been better, but it is how it was written.
I know people in their forties who are doing worse than I am (I’m almost 61).
Thank you for the poem. Have a good year.