Active aging enables freedom

Well, another year has sped by in my aging process, and I turned 51 on Friday. I'm loving this aging thing and have accidentally committed to something called "active aging." Love it!

The World Health Organization states that the four pillars of active aging are health, lifelong learning, participation and security. Huh? I got to think about those pillars and explore them. I invite you to do the same and Benjamin Button your life.

Health is the No. 1 pillar of active aging. Health is extremely important to me and may be more complicated than it seems. I used to only think of health in terms of mental and physical health. What else is there?

Like many, I discovered the Wellness Wheel, and I realized that health has eight components. To be committed to those, we'll probably need an action plan as opposed to a vague idea. Actually, we'll probably need eight action plans.

Next pillar of active aging: lifelong learning. The great news about being a high-school teacher in my 50s is that I am totally relevant and the kids see how dope and fire I am. Kidding!

The good thing about being an aging high-school teacher is that you are forced (I'm pretty sure you're forced unless you're oblivious and stuck in the past) to update your operating system and do your best to see the world through your students' eyes. Of course, that is impossible, but you can glean A LOT from the youngsters' perspectives.

Lifelong learning? Of course. I might be getting certified in scuba soon, and I count myself fortunate to have a career that enables lifelong learning. Hey, don't just listen to me. Billionaires should not exist, but billionaire Mark Cuban once said, "Whatever job you take, you're getting paid to learn. And once you accept money for education, that's a good thing. But once the education stops, you got to pivot to something new."

Excellent point. And monetizing learning? I can sign up for that.

Pillar No. 3 is participation. Oh boy. That's a big one, especially in this era of echo chambers and online rabbit holes. I'm not so sure human beings participate as much in their actual communities as they used to because of all the online distractions.

Again, for me, I am part of a school community so that's at least something, but I definitely can work more on being a part of my community and connecting to others — perhaps through more activities.

Security concludes the pillars, and it is nice that I'll have a teacher pension when I retire with some solid retirement accounts. But not only that, teaching is such a secure living that I again feel fortunate for that career. I fear for corporate folk in their 50s in which they could be replaced by someone younger and cheaper.

I guess with these pillars, I'm realizing that high-school teaching, when done smartly, helps one's health. Of course, I've run across frazzled, unhealthy teachers who haven't quite gotten to the Wellness Wheel yet. But there is hope for everybody.

Our emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational and social health all matter, and I say that best way to improve those is to start small and build on our tiny, healthy habits.

Freedom is the cousin of discipline, and a little discipline, connecting to what is important — our health — will help us with happy, fulfilling exists. Active aging, ultimately, allows us live the lives we actually want.