27/10/2017
WE Work Longer And Die Younger
Life becomes more complicated on a daily basis. In a working life, squeezing more and more sales out of customers is like twisting a wet towel tighter and tighter extracting smaller and smaller drops. In everyday life, we constantly guard against offending thoughts and words for fear of being accused of things that can cost us our careers. That fear causes us to reduce our interactions others and hold our feelings and emotions inside. Over time those stresses build up in our minds and bodies. We build a wall around our emotions keeping them inside and keeping the outside world out. A true best friend is almost nonexistent in society, especially among men and also for a lot of women. Even in marriage relationships we put up walls to avoid fights and keep family harmony. Inside those walls the pressure slowly builds and in some cases ruptures in the form emotional damage and physical problems. We tighten up to the point where the world’s gifts bounce off us as we hold on to our inner safety. We find ourselves sitting motionless not listening or caring about external stimulation. These things wear us down, we get tired, and we escape into alcohol, drugs, p**n, food, an endless variety of destructive things available to us today. So our escape becomes another stress point, another point that makes us withdraw, something else to tighten our mind and bodies.
I recently read the book “The Body Keeps The Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It’s a book about Trauma and PTSD. What he made me realize is that our bodies react to stresses and stimulation in ways we don’t realize. These stresses build up and many times don’t manifest themselves till years and decades later. We have all heard about how stress affects our heart which in turn affects our longevity. The longer we work the tighter we become and the more we need relief. Few people take all their vacation days feeling the pressure to perform. Our smart phones and laptops keep us constantly connected. That way we can demonstrate our commitment to the job. “Vanlife” seems to becoming more popular, nomads who travel the country in converted vans going from place to place. They do this to escape the pressures of this crazy stressful life we live. The surprising thing is that there are millions of them.
I became a yoga instructor as a retirement plan. I plan to specialize in helping people with Trama and PTSD along with teaching power flow and Yin classes. It will not earn me enough money on its own to sustain me in retirement. However it will keep me active and engaged with other people and interested in life. Think outside the box, conventional wisdom is just that, conventional. We are all different we have talents that have not been tapped. Retirement is the third birth in our lives. We are born once, high school graduation sets our direction for the next 50 years. Retirement allows us to do things we always wanted to but couldn’t. So just breathe and take the next step.
Dan Hautzinger
Kaman Industrial
Fluid Power Specalist
513-222-4280
In a difficult spot; a single deep breath can be your best friend.
~Dan Hautzinger~
