I have had a growing list of health issues, not to mention some concerns based on my family history. My existing conditions have included cholesterol so high that I had to take a statin drug daily. I also have gout and peripheral neuropathy—both of which led to chronic foot pain. Further (and probably most concerning), I am the only member of my family of origin who has not had a cancer diagnosis, so that threat has been looming on my horizon as well. Not far behind those on the concern scale were heart disease and dementia. 

Not exactly a cheery list.

What was I to do?

For a lot of years, my answer was, basically, nothing. Oh, I did take some medications, and occasionally would make half-hearted attempts at dealing with some chronic conditions. But nothing ever very serious or lasting.

Why do I say this?

To point out that just like you, I didn't have any secret reserve of superhuman resolve. So if I can make meaningful and lasting changes in my life, you can too.

Before jumping into the details, let me refer back to something I mentioned in the first article in this series. It seems like the older we get, the more attached we become to our way of doing things. "Set in our ways" is a polite and mild way of saying it.

But why is that? Are those ways always the most efficient process to follow to achieve your desired outcomes? Probably not. And when exactly did you stop considering new ways of doing things? Was it a certain age? Because if you think about the way you do the things you do, at one point in your life, the way you do something—anything—now was probably new and different from the way you used to do it. 

Technology has advanced so much in our lifetimes that there are countless examples to choose from, but an easy one that everyone can probably relate to is the way you make phone calls. That is, if you even use your phone to make calls anymore (I think my kids are surprised when I remind them that making calls was the original purpose of a phone). Depending on how old you are, you may remember picking up a phone and asking an operator to connect your line to that of the family you wanted to speak with. While I don't go back quite that far, I do remember having only a single telephone line for our family. When my sister would talk to friends or boyfriends for hours, that would tie up our phone line for the entire time (and I provided her the same inconvenience). No opportunity to leave a voicemail or send a text. Only an annoying busy signal to greet and irritate prospective callers.

Would you give up the superphone / supercomputer you probably carry in your pocket today in exchange for one of those outdated ways of making a phone call?

I certainly don't mean to say that a new way of doing something is always better. But most of the time it's at least worth considering, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Or maybe especially if it makes you uncomfortable—stepping outside your comfort zone can help keep your mind sharp. More on that in future posts on brain health.

Anyway, I'll step down from my lofty soap box and end this section with a modification to a Henry Ford quote:  "Whether you think you're too old to try new things, or you're not too old to try new things, you're right."

In order to tackle the impossible, you first have to achieve the possible. There are a couple of timeless sayings that convey this idea in different ways:

"The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." - Chinese proverb originating with Lao Tzu

"There is only one way to eat an elephant:  a bite at a time." - Desmond Tutu

If you'll pardon the pun, the first step in my journey began with taking care of my feet. 

My feet transport me to the best this life has to offer. I live in Colorado, so hiking carries me into glorious sunshine, up steep trails with spectacular panoramic vistas of 14ers across the Rocky Mountains ("14ers" refers to mountains whose peak exceeds 14,000 feet). Hiking enables me to drink in deep breaths of the freshest scent I know:  a pine forest after an afternoon rain. Hiking takes me to meandering streams and rushing rivers. Lakes rippling in the breeze. Aspen forests whispering with the wind. Gigantic rock formations. Meadows adorned with wildflowers of a thousand different hues. All these and more decorate my trails as my feet carry me step after step, mile after scenic mile.

My feet are my passport, too. I love traveling, and when I do, I try to walk around as much as possible in the locale I'm visiting. I enjoy taking in the sounds, the smells—some delicious and some disturbing, but all part of seizing the moment. I appreciate the sights, too, and since photography is another passion of mine, I take pictures of everything (just ask my wife and kids, or anyone who has ever traveled with me!).

I've strolled along the Seine River, finally understanding why poets and artists and lovers are drawn to Paris. Walking along the Hudson River in New York City, I've been surprised by the wealth of fauna and flora, including hundreds of thousands of tulips and many other vibrant flowers tucked in so many unexpected places. I have wandered along beaches in Hawaii, California, Florida, North Carolina, among many other destinations. I cherish feeling the sand between my toes, fixing my gaze on the endless horizon, allowing the waves to restore peace to my soul. This is what my feet enable me to do.

The reason I share these thoughts is because of the thing they all have in common:  I have to use my feet to get around.

And all of them were becoming increasingly challenging given the amount of chronic foot pain I was enduring—especially in my toes, which were searing in pain so much that I couldn't even stand to have anyone touch them. So I started wondering, What, if anything—short of giving up on these things I love to do—can I do to reduce, or even eliminate, that constant pain?

Well, I asked my doctor, and he recommended me to a Podiatrist. So off I went to see what I could find out.

Here are the two best things I gained from my visit to the foot doc, which started me down the path toward reducing the constant pain in my feet:

As far as the thing I figured out for myself, it was how much pain can result from little tiny growths that appear in odd places on your feet. For me, it was a corn that had grown between 2 of my toes. I wasn't sure how much that little thing could be directly related to my foot pain, but I decided to go after it anyway—I wanted to attack anything that could be hurting my feet!

After doing some research, I decided to try ComfortZone's liquid corn & callus remover. This treatment entailed putting a few drops on the weird little thing between my toes, then applying one of the small "donut" cushions that came with the drops. After about a week, the corn just dried up and fell off. Fortunately, it left my toes intact. And wouldn't you know it? The pain I had been experiencing in that foot reduced dramatically!

It has been over two years since I began this part of my journey to improve my health, and I'm excited to report that my feet are feeling WAY better today than they did when I started. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm completely healed since my toes are still fairly sensitive to the touch, but I have definitely come a long way. Maybe the best way of describing it is to say that my feet are no longer an impediment to my hiking, fitness walking, or any of the other ambulatory activities I enjoy.

So all in all, I'd say my first step on this journey was a success!

Based on my experience, I challenge you to pick one thing about yourself that you want to improve—it could be a health issue, a personality trait, or anything—and write down some things you could do to make it better. Visualize how your life will improve once you have tackled that issue.

Then pick one of those actions and start doing it. In some cases, you may want to seek advice from a qualified medical professional or someone who is otherwise an expert in the area you want to improve. But whatever the situation, you should start with small, achievable steps. Find ways to turn those into positive habits. Celebrate small victories to help yourself build momentum. 

What you do each day defines who you will become. Do today what you want to be tomorrow.

One thing is certain:  you are never too old to take control of your health, unless you convince yourself that you are.

And why would you want to do that??

As I mentioned at the start of this article, this time I have described the first step in my journey to take control of my health. Stay tuned next time, when I'll talk about the next step in my "Why I Feel Better at 58 than I Did at 38" process. Until then, happy healing!