Becoming anti-fragile with age lets your life get easier.
Would you like the power to recover quickly from any setback that comes your way?
If so, read on my friend. I’ve got a good one here for you today.
First off, “What is Anti-Fragile”
It might seem, at first glance, that anti-fragile would just be the opposite of fragile.
Fragile means easily broken. So, anti-fragile should mean, NOT easily broken.
But not quite.
Nassim Nicholas, author of best-selling book “Antifragile“, defines antifragile as the ability of complex systems to strengthen themselves in response to damage, or changing conditions.
When something gets better with stress applied, it becomes antifragile.
Comparing fragile and antifragile.
An egg shell, for example, is a simple system made of calcium components and proteins. Strong in its geometric design, yes. But it doesn’t take much to break the shell and let the yoke and white spill out. The egg shell is a very effective system for holding the egg’s content. But it’s fragile. It breaks, and that’s that.
By contrast, the human body is a complex system. When one part of the body is compromised, often other parts pick up the slack, or even improve the system as a whole, and life goes on.
You’ve likely heard of people who lose their sight, only to find that their senses of smell and hearing are heightened.
Perhaps a more common example is our muscles, which actually require breakdown first, to grow. When we exercise just a bit past our limits, tiny tears which have been made from the stress, are repaired and refilled bigger than before. Muscles grow bigger and stronger over time from this repeated tearing down of tissue through exercise stress and the subsequent layer upon layer buildup of repair tissue.
Our bones repair themselves stronger than before the break. Skin develops a thicker scar tissue in the process of healing our flesh.
This strengthening through stress, is the process of becoming anti-fragile.
Anti-fragile is not limited to the physical realms though.
The loss of our first loved one, boyfriend or girlfriend, creates a certain toughness that can allow quicker recovery when the next loss occurs.
It was just after Christmas when my first girlfriend Kelly broke up with me. “Why, why, why?” I repeatedly cried in my head, over and over again for the next 18 months. I was deeply depressed.
Apparently I needed all that time to grow thicker skin. To learn the lesson.
Because after that one horrific breakup, relationships came and went without stress for me. Not one required any serious downtime. I had learned to not take these breakups so personally.
“Oh well. Next!” became my default attitude. I grew stronger from the first stressful breakup.
Antifragile!
Same with any loss. Jobs. Money. Theft.
The healing process can create a resilience, a toughness that makes the next one seem not so bad.
My favorite grandmother died when I was 9. She had lived with us for many years prior to her death, as the demensia slowly progressed.
I was devastated!
She was gone. Forever! My Grama!
No one had ever disappeared from my life like this before. She was my first real experience with death. To this day I remember it vividly. It was horrible.
Waves of sadness would come over me at random times, day and night. And I’d break down into tears.
Now, at 62, I’ve seen dozens depart this world. And I’m very sad for only a short while, then recovery comes quickly.
The experience of dealing with tragedy, and knowing I’ll be OK in time, creates an anti-fragility.
Millionaires often lose their fortunes, and then get them back again. That’s anti-fragility. They don’t let the change ruin them. They don’t let themselves get down. They don’t let failure become their identity. They choose to learn and grow stronger from the event.
Athletes and Celebrities display anti-fragility often.
They’re down. Then back up again.
Becoming anti-fragile can happen naturally, as with our bodies. It can also occur as a matter of choice. How we choose to respond to things.
How Can WE Become Antifragile?
Can we look for the good, the lesson, the value? If so, we can become anti-fragile.
But if we decide instead, to choose only the endless, unproductive loop of “Why me?” like my younger self did after the breakup, we may forever be doomed to fragility. We may never recover if we don’t find the lesson, find the good, find the silver lining.
We might always be easily broken, unless we allow, or consciously will, our attitudes to change.
If I’ve learned anything in my 60+ years, it’s that things change. Things can change.
No matter how attached you are, no matter how hard you’ve worked at something, no matter how valuable things are to you, they can be gone, taken away in an instant.
By companies, governments, economics, policy, malevolence, accident, or for no discernable reason at all.
People. Things. Jobs. Careers. Your Paypal or Facebook account. Loved ones. Your favorite store, or TV series. Your dog. Your cat. Bags at the retail stores. Your favorite Girl Scout cookies. Your favorite sports team. Body parts. Anything and everything can just go. Poof!
My knee gave out several years ago as I was carrying a box upstairs. Nothing unusually heavy. But I felt my knee go “Pop!” and I thought I would pass out from the shooting pain.
This was a shock to me. I work out. I’m not overweight, but generally believed to be in good shape.
Months turned to years though. It hurt to walk. Always. Stairs were my worst nightmare.
Doctors, drugs, surgery and needles did little to ease the pain. I thought that was it. My body was all done healing.
“Is this how it ends?” I wondered.
But then randomly, I found this amazing fitness guy online. I followed his advice and my knee began feeling better that week. I share more details of this, including his contact information, and tips which might help you with your knee pain, in my special report titled, “A Shortcut To Pain Free Knees”
Within weeks my knee was feeling so much better. The walking pain was gone. Stairs were no longer a threat. I could keep up with my kids again. Life was good!
And my body is in better condition now than it has been in the last 10 years. I’m more anti-fragile now because, through that knee stress, I’ve found alternative fitness routines that work.
Life IS change.
How you deal with that change can determine the course of your physical and mental life.
Look for the good. Find a way. Never lose hope.
For an eye-opening read, a unique perspective, and ideally greater insight on becoming antifragil, I hope you’ll pick up a copy of the book, “Antifragile“, by Nassim Nicholas today.
That should give you a good grip on the mental side of antifragile.
Then, to make your physical body as antifragile as possible, be sure to review my previous post, 7 Senior Exercise Secrets.
Please consider doing at least one thing today that your future self will thank you for.
Then continue this habit everyday. You’ll be amazed at the positive changes you’ll pile up over time.
Becoming anti-fragile with age means growing stronger from life’s challenges. It means life get easier rather than harder.
Anti-fragile is the road best traveled.
“Bene Vivere!”
Bob “Elderbob” Schwarztrauber
P.S. Finally, I got to use one of my favorite photos in a post. I took this egg photo some 10 years ago when I was regularly competing in competitions. I forget how it ranked, but I always liked it! Hope you do too! If you’d like to see more of my photos in these posts, drop me a note!
