In Defense of the Sedentary Life
I gave up on forced exercise at the age of fifty-four. It might have been because my laziness finally overcame my pride but I suspect that the main reason was guilt. I became tired not of the effort of exercise, but rather the burden of guilt either pushing me to do what I didn't like to do or punishing me for neglecting it.
In the end I calculated that freedom from guilt was more valuable and enjoyable than the elusive youth and health benefits promised by physical exercise. There is a certain exhilaration that comes with making peace with your own mortality. It allows for a more selective pace and quality of existence. You're no longer at the mercy of the machinery that enslaves you to the notion that there is something unnatural about the eventual degeneration of your body. Life is for living not for the preserving of itself.
So I say goodbye to forced walks, tasteless diet food and mindless repetition on exercise gadgets and hello to accepting each day as both a new and passing experience. As the ancient writer said,
He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
- Job 1:21
And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
I arrived with no guilt or anxiety about how I looked and felt and from here on in I pray to feel the same way as I leave.