# Chapter 323

Rest rest rest was what my body and mind were calling for, but in a world where only overclocked schedules and overworked people are admired, rest gets pushed to the side and is constantly undervalued. Granted only in a weird moment of time, where I could slide in between a canceled weekend with a client, and Brenda being half way across the USA at a funeral (i.e. no grandkids here), that I could have these 2.5 days of rest rest rest. Hopefully you will not require such extreme morbid synergy of canceled meetings and far flung funerals to get your rest rest rest, but I fear you may. All the reading that crosses my virtual desk states that we are the most sleep deprived, vacation adverse, nation on earth. This is not good.

Not only that, I am in my 60’s now and taking care of myself has never been more important. Unless I want to spend the third third of my life in a wheelchair, nursing home or in chronic pain, my aging body demands I make it a priority. This means feeding it very little by American standards, and exercising it super often by American standards. Mobility is the key to independent living and we all want that more than anything. Of course in our fantasy retirement, we all want to be robust and healthy and strong and powerful and painfree until the very end of life in this body. Few ever have that experience from what I can see and read and observe. Most sabotage themselves into early painful graves. So rest rest rest or early painful grave, which approach do you want to cultivate in your life?