The Wisdom Of Playing A New Sport After 40!
Rather than approaching middle age with negativity, it's better to grasp it with a new outlook and a new sport as well
“Life begins at 40!”
That’s what all my family and friends reminded me of when I hit the big 4–0. Yet, I hadn’t even contemplated that saying since I was a kid and saw it on my father’s mug that he received when he hit the milestone himself.
Then I thought to myself:
“Maybe I forgot about the mug. After all, I’m now aging so my brain fog may be permanent and it may now become a constant thing of my future.”
And immediately I heard a voice say:
“Rubbish!”
And that voice came from inside my head. I quickly acknowledged what my education and experiences had taught me which was ‘by my thinking that I may be aging’ in the first instance meant that I alone am giving license for my thoughts to wander.
“Now that’s what I need to be aware of more!”
I quickly assured myself.
Then, I decided to listen to that last sentence and make it a rule into my forties and beyond.
My 40-year-old vow to myself:
In fact, I vowed to listen only to what I chose to listen to. After all, the information we take in create the thoughts that we have about ourselves. If hitting 40 wasn’t bad enough why would I choose to cram in other negative thoughts into my psyche when it just wanted to continue to think it was still young?
“Decision made. Case closed. Positivity only from here on out!”
I finally concluded in my mind.
But what about the dangers of physical activity after 40?:
Seeing as I was promising myself to be more aware of my age I decided to look up some facts. In a nutshell, the following few caught my eye:
- By the age of 40 physical exercises are hugely beneficial. It boosts brain perfusion as well as aiding parts of your memory.
- Although there has been a case where a 40-year-old athlete began to experience depression and violent behavior that eventually led to suicide, this case arose from decades of physical contact in sport.
- Research has also shown that major injuries can occur in those encountering heights in their later forties but that this also is due to those people working alone before suffering the injury.
What should hitting 40 and beginning to contemplate playing any sport tell you?
Exercise is your friend. Do it!
At this stage of your life when you are wrapping up those years of youth and transcending into the middle part of your life you need something that will make you energized. That’s what exercise gives you. But, sport can give you a greater benefit too.
Sport will allow you to socialize and meet others which are fantastic for your overall health and wellbeing.
Your brain is aging and it wants to be left to create.
So why give it harsh physical contact? There’s simply no point to it. Research is showing that although sport is great for our brain too much physical contact is not. So, choose a sport that allows for the majority of the benefits of sport but avoids the physical contact that will affect your brain health.
If you just beginning that new sport then ease your way into it and do what you can when you can.
Timely practice improves aging pleasure:
Like any sport, after starting it you`ll increase your pleasure from continuing to improve your skills at it.
Long hours of practice mixed with your natural ability will dictate the eventual level of competition that you will be able for. As you’re not exactly in the first flushes of youth, when alone just be careful to avoid doing new and more complex parts of the sport. Try to learn from someone who has more experience and get the technique down when someone is watching.
After that, your maturity should kick in to help you ever improve whilst being safe at your sport.
What else does 40 bring?:
To be honest, it hasn’t taken me long to write these few lines despite my aging brain.
And I neglected to share with you earlier what a good friend wrote to me in a birthday card when I reached that new decade. It was something along the lines of:
“Welcome to the best decade of life!”
When I had my 40th get-together I pondered on that for a while as I wasn’t sure how that could be.
But now I realize they were right. After all, one of the reasons I didn’t share that earlier on with you is because I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t too old to remember it when I’d written further down the page and that my aging wisdom would make a better point of it once I contemplated it further.
I was right.
After all, if you begin a sport later in life just use the patience that you’ve learned up until now, test yourself mentally as you feel you need it, and prove to others that you are only beginning to show the best of what life gave you.
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