I'm a spry 23 years of age, and there's still a lot that's great about that. I can say I'm closer to 20 than 30, people don't expect as much from as they will in 2 years, and I can still sort of get away with cheeky, boyish things. There's no limit to how pumped I am about all that.
However, it's undeniable that my body is not what it was even 2 years ago. The unforgiving tenets of age are just now beginning to make themselves clear to me, and I really want to punch them in the face.
Let me first say that this is not a post about weight. I put on a bunch of weight in college, but that had absolutely nothing to do with the aging process. High school dictated that I work out a pace that I assumed was normal, but I now consider to be almost unattainable. Think about it; in high school we all must get a solid 90-120 min of excercise Mon-Fri for most of the year. It's not a body image thing, it's just the daily routine of high school sports. Right? All this stops in college. And it happens to stop at the same time you realize that daily boozing, eating, and general lazing about are totally acceptable activities. Thus, you're gaining weight. I get that, and I totally accept it. But Korea's eating habits have more or less gotten me to a place where I'm eating healthier than I have in a long time. So the diet is there, and the exercise will be there just as soon as my teaching obligations lessen. Right. I'm not worried about that.
What I'm really talking about are the biological processes that would be happening regardless of physical fitness. These, to me, are the true signs that I've begun a long, slow (I know I've still got 25 years), decline to middle age.
All of sudden mysterious joints hurt. For the record, I had no idea that such things existed two years ago, and I was heavier then! All of a sudden I have to choose work out activities based on what specific part of my body is the least sore. It's pathetic to think about.
Though no facet of aging is more apparent to me than gratuitous hair growth. Now, some men don't have this problem. There are those dudes out there who are just biologically entitled to a relatively hairless existence. I used to have absolutely no envy for these guys. I did - and still do - consider my body hair to be an exciting part of my physical existence. Chest hair is fun, facial hair is fun... right? Well, yes and no. Like most things that occur in nature, anything can be good, but it is usually only so in moderation. For example, some seasonal rain is helpful to almost everything it covers. But too much rain can cause damaging floods. I feel the same way about my body hair. For the most part it is an aesthetically pleasing and balancing part of my being. But, now that age has taken hold, I'm finding hair in places that are hardly aesthetically pleasing or balancing.
The purpose of body hair is to provide cover/protection for what it covers. So why would the body grow hair on the back? Really, what could it possibly protect on my back? Could it shield me from a blow to the kidneys? No. Could fend off sneak attacks from ravenous animals? No. Could it do any good in preventing sunburn? No. So why is it there? It's there because nature's ability to balance itself hardly ever works. If it did, why would we have invasive plant species, floods, or humans, for that matter. Anything good that nature has ever given us usually ends up spilling just a bit out of the glass. Now, it's easy to clean up most of the time, but still, what a nuisance.
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