Day 31: On Becoming the Ultimate Human

My daughter sent me a clip of someone talking about aging. She admitted it was clickbait. I am sure she sent it to me to encourage me in my exercise routine. And it did - at first.

The clip was from Becoming the Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka. Of course, I should have been tipped off by that title, but I didn’t pay attention to it.

Instead, I got swept up in his claim that “Aging is the aggressive pursuit of comfort. The more aggressively we pursue comfort, the faster we age. He said it very aggressively. He went on about how we tell Grandma not to go outside because it’s too hot or too cold. He had other examples, including the idea that hunger isn’t necessarily a bad thing and that pain builds muscle.

It helped that I was out walking when she sent it. I was spending the hour while my oil was being changed exploring a new area, a better choice I thought, than sitting in the filthy garage waiting for my car. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and Brecka’s message landed exactly as it was intended to.

And then I started thinking about it.

These messages are insidious because there is some truth in them. We do need to push ourselves. Giving in to comfort can be detrimental to our health. Movement is important to our physical well-being. So is eating well. I’m just not sure that going outside in extreme heat or cold is necessarily a good idea.

And then it hit me: Brecka isn’t really talking about aging. No matter how fit you are, you will eventually have to deal with the wearing down of your body. What he is suggesting is that people who are not “aging well” are lazy. They’ve given in to comfort.

The evidence? Their bodies.

It is simplistic thinking, rooted in ableism and privilege. It takes a good idea—that we should care for and challenge our bodies—and twists it into a message that can make us ashamed of aging.

Let’s stop confusing caring for our bodies with conquering aging.

As I was walking, I passed an older woman. She was probably in her eighties, and she was moving along at a brisk pace. She was hunched over and listing to one side. If I saw her sitting somewhere, I might be tempted to think she had aggressively pursued comfort.

But I would have no idea what her body had carried her through. I would know nothing about her health, her circumstances, her choices, or the life she had lived. And that is the problem with making the body the sole evidence of how well someone is aging.

Yes to taking care of ourselves and our bodies. I know my daily workouts have really made a difference for me. But a hard no, to seeing aging as a sign of aggressively pursuing comfort.

I hate to break the news to Gary, but I don’t think the goal is to become the ultimate human. I think the goal is to become more human at every age.