Remember the Stephen King thriller “Misery”?
The movie is built on the tension of a person being held against their will without anyone knowing about it, as the movie progresses it becomes increasingly intense as the captor goes to extreme measures to keep her victim, who is injured and has limited movement.
I watched it when I was home nursing a back injury and I was confined to my living room couch.
That scared the crap out of me.
I lived alone then, and I live alone now.
Talk about feeling helpless?
I am of the age where if I suffer a stroke, or severely injure myself, I could end up in a nursing home.
To me, that is a fate worse than death.
I know about nursing homes.
I remember one of my brother’s girlfriends, who used to work at one , tell me about all the mean things they used to do to their helpless victims.
Mostly, they just ignored them.
Oh, she was a riot, that one.
Minimum wage right? Who cares?
When I worked for Caring-com placing seniors in assisted living, I would take calls from people in tiny rooms in wheel chairs waiting for someone to take them to the bathroom.
They were forced to sit in their own waste.
When I worked in hospitality I would see inactive people eat a day’s calories in one sitting and then have a gooey dessert on top of it.
Then go home and watch TV.
A recipe for future confinement.
I said all that, to say this.
If you are at or near retirement, you have to start taking better care of yourself.
Eat better and less, move more and strengthen your muscles.
You need to train for retirement and avoid the misery.
Don’t be a prisoner of your own device.
It’s never too late.
Please note: I welcome comments that are offensive, illogical or off-topic from readers in all states of consciousness.