There are a handful of reasons I embarked on my Ageosophy journey, not the least of which is my passionate belief that we have more control than we think over our health and wellbeing—how we feel, how we live, how we look…how we age. I want to encourage people to take the reins of their lives and make impactful choices to have a long health span.
As we near the end of this month of reframing and recalibrating for the year ahead, I’d like to share one of my life’s tenets. This is a theory that I’ve come to over time, based on trial and error in my own life and observation of the world around me: there’s no silver bullet. It’s not just one thing, but the combination of many things that leads to real change. It’s a little bit of a lot, not a lot of a little.
This message doesn’t often come through in our culture. Companies need to sell their products, not a protocol or a resilient lifestyle. That’s a tougher, less profitable sell! Consequently, we have developed a mindset and appetite for the quick fix, the pill, the serum, the shake, the something that will solve everything.
I was reminded of this on New Years Day, as my husband, Andrea, and I did something we only do twice a year: we watched network programming. Gulp! This is a tradition that begins in the morning when we put the Rose Parade on (even though it’s 4 miles from our house), just as background noise; then by the afternoon, we watch the Rose Bowl Championship football game with our neighbors on their mammoth screen with an array of chips and dips.
As this is one of my few forays into the world of mass-market advertising, I’m always struck by all of the subliminal, yet compelling messages that life will be better once you buy this great product, or sign up for this service. As I watched this stream of advertising, it was a good reminder why Andrea and I turned off network programming when our son was born 17 years ago, and we haven’t turned it on since.
A mindset
I think Andrea and I live in a very different world from most people, an ad-free world…for the majority of time. We aren’t bombarded by tv or radio advertising from morning to night, we don’t get magazines bloated with alluring ads, the few podcasts we listen to have minimal, if any, advertising, and we spend relatively little time on social media. All in all, we are in the advertising dead zone and it’s a beautiful place to be. (Although, I have to admit, I do feel the need to do an audit every so often so I’m up to date.)
But even with this relatively little exposure to the hype of advertising, I am inevitably enamored with the latest wonder ingredient or newest best exercise contained in the copious amount of health, wellness, and longevity information that I regularly pour over. I start to get sucked into the mindset of “oh, I’ve got to get this…” until I give myself a shake and remind myself, “It’s a little of a lot, not a lot of a little.”
So what do I mean by that?
Many years ago, I used to go to the YMCA faithfully at 0-dark-hundred to work out, and there were a handful of ladies who were also regulars. I noticed the majority of them typically did one thing…for instance, the elliptical trainer. They would climb on, toil for 45 minutes, climb down, and leave. I got into a conversation once with one of these early risers and asked what other forms of exercise she did. She replied that it was only the elliptical since it was supposed to be “whole body.”
I remember thinking two things: first, she looked fairly miserable on the machine; and second, she was isolating her workout to a particular modality and therefore was missing an overall level of fitness. That was an “aha” experience for me. I realized then that I had a much different approach to exercise, as well as to many other aspects of life.
For whatever reason—perhaps it's the designer in me—I look at things holistically and synergistically. I assume that most successful solutions involve a myriad of interdependent factors. For the woman at the Y with the desire to be fit, more time on the elliptical machine was not the answer… and honestly, I felt a bit bad for her, because I could tell she was trying hard to get the most out of that machine. I wanted to tell her to lift heavy weights, use the resistance bands, take a Pilates class, hike the real stairs…but I don’t give unsolicited advice.
Tried and true theory
In my experience, the key is “a little bit of a lot.” For overall fitness, it’s a lot of modalities—some walking, hiking, weight and resistance training, stretching, and movement. As opposed to “a lot of a little,” which is a lot of one thing such as the elliptical machine.
This theory holds true for many aspects of living well. Take diet, for example. I see people get hooked on a variety of vegetable-colored drinks, kombuchas, or bottled green tea, but otherwise eat fairly poorly. That’s the “a lot of a little”—a concentrated dose of a purported healthful item, instead of an overall healthy eating plan consisting of a lot of little good choices spread evenly throughout meals.
I can apply the same methodology to building collagen in the body or having great skin, or any of a number of other wellness aspirations. There is no one thing, no silver bullet, no magical serum or wonder pill that will solve everything. There simply is no be all, end all. Real, lasting impact requires a holistic, synergistic approach and mindset.
Turn off the sell
Unfortunately, this measured approach is thwarted by advertising that is designed to compel us to act otherwise. The clever “sell” messaging taps into our innate, emotional yearning for the quick fix and unattainable perfection. We get blinded by the promises and common sense flies out the window.
That’s why we turned off the TV, discontinued magazines, and haven’t looked back. It’s too exhausting to fight against; it’s better to simply eliminate it. Nowadays, if I want to try something new, it’s a deliberate search and a carefully considered purchase…always with the mantra of “it’s a little of a lot, not a little of a lot.” Choices become a little less impulsive and a lot less stressful when I know that they are just one piece of the puzzle to live well, age great.