Finding the Strength to go on

 I'm finding at 77 years of age (almost 78) that finding the strength to go on is much harder than before in my life. However, psychologically at least, even when I had really good physical health from 21 to 25 and likely up to my 40s and beyond, I had the hardest time actually psychologically staying alive from age 21 to 25.

Now, it is physically harder to stay alive. At least for me and my wife finances are not the problem that they might have been in some of my 20s and even some of my 30s because by age 46 and after all this seemed to resolve itself (by God's Grace).

So, really the only thing I deal with right now at age 77 is my health really and I have been trying to stay alive and be very creative how I do this since I was about 50 years old. This is why I recommend everyone have full health care insurance no later than by 40 to 45 years old or else this could be the end of you if you have any health (whoops) and wind up in the hospital. Because without full health insurance of some kind often you are going to go bankrupt within a few weeks or months if you try to pay that hospital bill. 

This is true for most people in the U.S. Then one faces the cost of full health care insurance which can be a nightmare for people between the ages of 50 and 65 when you can go on Medicare. A retired doctor who lives next door once said to me: "Isn't Medicare Wonderful?" I fully agree with him because I was paying $1800 a month for health care insurance (just for myself) (my wife was paying about the same) when she turned 64 too or more but she is 7 years younger than I am.

So, what I'm saying here is staying alive from 50 to 64 is a lot and almost impossible if anything happens to you between 50 and above without good health care insurance.

Anyway, in some ways if you can get on Medicare then you might make it to 100 years old too.

This is part of the paradox of getting older in life.

However, here at 77 I have found through research that about 69% of the people born in 1948 like me are still alive. I was surprised at this that there were so many actually but that was also comforting that so many my age are still alive (even after the Viet Nam War) which likely killed more men my age than anything else that happened because more young men died who were born in 1948 than any other age during the Viet Nam War. 

Here are some facts from the previous article about men born in 1948:

men born in 1948 have a median life expectancy of approximately 73 to 79 years. Since individuals born in 1948 are currently 76 or 77 years old, they are approaching the age where mortality rates begin to increase more sharply.

• Historical Context: In 1948, there were approximately 3.5 to 3.6 million births in the U.S.. Today, roughly 2.3 to 2.5 million individuals from that birth year remain alive. 

• Cohort Life Expectancy: For a male born in 1948, the SSA's 2025 Trustees Report estimates a cohort life expectancy of 72.8 years at birth, which increases for those who have already reached age 65.
• end quote from previous article:
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• So, since I have already reached 65 because I'm presently 77 years old almost 78 I am now in a different grouping.
• One of the ways I look at this is that it takes a lot of good luck and intelligence and instinct and intuition to have made it to 77 so far. So, the likelihood of making it to 100 becomes more likely with each day one lives.
• However, this is not to say that staying alive isn't hard because it is.
• However, I have my wife and my children and my grandchildren that make me want to stay alive as long as possible for them. Also, I have been married 30 years to my present wife also. 
• Finding someone that I could live to the end of my life with harmoniously was no easy matter.
• So, we didn't even meet each other until I was 46 years old and grown up enough to actually make this work long term.
• By the Way I don't  how to turn off the Bullet points because I think it is programming itself because of quotes I put in above when the bullet points started because I'm using an encoder which automatically programs the site in HTML or compatible computer languages. So, I',m sorry if that might be bothering you at this point. However, if I don't hit Return on my laptop it likely won't do it until I hit return again which is interesting too.
•  Also, for every age group the following also is often true: "If you live to be 30 years old then likely you have a good chance of living to 90.
• Why is this?
• I think the most likely things to kill people or cause them to kill themselves happen between birth and 30 years old.
• For example, in my own case it was psychologically really rough to make it to 25 or 30 years old. Why?
• Because I was in a more narcissistic place and thinking more about myself than the needs of others especially between 21 and 25 years old. However, in order for a man to have his own life if he doesn't start to strike out on his own by 25 or 30 he likely never will.
• However, when I was able to study the lives of my ancestors back to 1580 in Switzerland I saw that the line I'm descended from of those men usually owned their own businesses and got married and had 5 to 10 living children each until my grandfather had 5, my father had 1 me and so far at age 77 I have 3 biological children and one adopted daughter who are now from age 30 to age 51.
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• So, once I realized this was my heritage I realized that owning one or more businesses to support my wife and children likely was what I should do too. Also, my father and grandfather and Uncle all owned their own businesses too and my great Grandfather too. Also, my Great Grandfather was a Captain in the Northern Army in the Civil War as well.
• So, we have all been men who were captain of our own ship and master of our own destiny too in this sense. 
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• So, at age 77 presently I find it hard to go on more than before in both a psychological sense but also in a physical sense. That both now can be difficult to master is a hard thing.
• Then since I was in the hospital for 3 days I can no longer eat the things I did before without problems. So, for example, giving up all gluten is a very big deal for me because I have always loved Pasta especially a lot and now I have to give up wheat bread and wheat pasta as well because that is how I have gotten rid of Edema completely.
• However, when I basically gave up being a ladies man and got into food instead and now having to give up the foods I like to eat the most I'm finding it harder to be nice and happy and have joy in life without some way to get enough physical satisfaction in life to want to actually be alive in the first place.
• I have had to give up many things to be alive here today like my dualsport motorcycle a KLR 650 and skiing because of a Naval Hernia which prevents me from lifting a 400 pound motorcycle when it dumps into the dirt because it is a dirt and street bike and I cannot risk falling anymore while skiing also because of my hernia.
• However, I'm supposed to get a robotic Hernia surgery late in march that might change all these things. However, there is a 6 week recovery period where I can't do much of anything while I walk as much as possible while not tearing out all my internal stitches while walking or getting up to walk. So, that likely will be pretty painful to deal with too.
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• I was watching on CNNTV and on PBS Newshour yesterday parts of the funeral and celebration of life of Jesse Jackson and what I came away with is the following statement by him:
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• "KEEP HOPE ALIVE!"
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• BY GOD'S GRACE