Yesterday, after a weekend of shuffling furniture and boxes, cleaning, and installing flooring in the last room in the house that really needed new flooring, I found myself incredibly exhausted, not to mention full of body aches. The room looked beautiful, but I looked bedraggled. Normally, I would preach the virtues of pacing oneself and working smart, but feeling as though I had a limited window of free time, I had thrown all of my energy into the job to get it done. My body soon let me know that hadn’t been the best idea. I was thoroughly worn out.
I could say that I can’t work like I used to because I’m nearly 50 years old. I could add that my body just has a lot of miles on it, from being so active for so many years, and doesn’t function as well as it once did. I could say these things. And I did. Out loud. I know that a lot of us who are over 30 tend think along these lines. Despite the large number of baby boomers who are over 65, and an average life expectancy of about 79 years, we still live in a culture that highly values youth and physical abilities. But, as I lay groaning on the couch, I remembered that some of us were never able to do at 25 what others are able to do at 60. Some of us never had the physical ability to run marathons, rock climb, or repeatedly lift heavy objects. Age doesn’t really have anything to do with the situation. So, if focusing on age is neither accurate nor useful, what’s an alternative approach? After napping for a while, the answer came to me.
Kindness.
No matter our age or physical abilities, we can think in terms of practicing kindness toward ourselves. I can’t imagine any good objections to this philosophy. It is certainly not a “sign of weakness” to be kind. How many times have we seen the classic example of a big, burly man or an armed soldier being kind to a small child, and thought that kindness, patience, and gentleness actually added value to that person’s strength, gave his character an important additional dimension? So, we should be kind to ourselves—body and soul. No more moaning about how we are getting older. No more cursing our limitations, or pushing too far beyond them in a misguided effort to make some kind of point to ourselves or others about our self worth. Only kindness.
Be ye kind one to another…and to yourself.
The Renovating Reverend 
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