Lloyd Khan runs Shelter Publications and was the shelter editor for The Whole Earth Catalog. At 82, he is quite active, as a skateboarder, paddler, home remodeler, and hiker. In a recent blog post, he reflects on 84-year-old author Philip Roth’s observation that “…in just a matter of months I’ll depart old age to enter deep old age — easing ever deeper daily into the redoubtable Valley of the Shadow…”
There was something about turnng 80 that I relished. It’s so o-l-d. I’m still upright.
Some things I’ve learned:
- Old people get weak more from lack of activity than from ticking of the clock.
- I’m so interested in my work these days, I don’t get out as much as I should. BUT each time I go for a hike, or paddle, or jump under a cold waterfall, I feel invigorated, alive, inspired.
- Bob Anderson says, “You never hear anyone saying, ‘I’m sorry I just worked out.’”
- What I learned in those years, from those guys, was the value of staying fit.
- I work on posture every time I think of it. If I see as person with good or bad posture, it’s a reminder. Shoulders back, down, relax.
- If you don’t use it, you are gonna lose it fer shure.
So this is a reminder to myself to get my ass away from the keyboard more often. Mind and body are not separate entities.
Here’s Lloyd’s home gym:
And here’s Lloyd going through The Whole Earth Catalog:
