When Did You Last Test That Assumption?

I've been thinking about something lately.

How many things do we stop doing because we genuinely can't do them anymore, and how many do we stop doing because we've quietly decided we probably can't?

It's an interesting question.

Especially when you've been around long enough to collect a few injuries, a few disappointments and the occasional reminder that your body doesn't always appreciate your enthusiasm.

You try something. It hurts. Or it feels harder than you remember.

So you leave it alone for a while.

Fair enough.

But a few months become a year. A year becomes five. And somewhere along the way, a temporary decision turns into something you believe about yourself.

"I can't do that anymore."

The strange thing is, you might not have tested that assumption in years.

I understand this better than I once did.

After my motorcycle crash, I had to reconsider movements I'd spent decades taking for granted. Some things needed time. Others needed a completely different approach. And a few required accepting that the old way of doing them was no longer sensible.

But I also discovered how easily caution can become a habit.

And once something becomes a habit, we rarely question it.

That's what interests me.

Not the things we genuinely cannot change, but the possibilities we stop investigating.

Perhaps you've stopped getting down on the floor because getting back up became uncomfortable.

Perhaps you've avoided a particular movement because an old injury made you nervous.

Or maybe you've simply convinced yourself that a certain level of strength, mobility or fitness belongs to a younger man.

I'm not suggesting you go out tomorrow and start testing every questionable decision you've made over the last twenty years.

That would be a spectacularly stupid way to prove a point.

I'm suggesting something much more useful.

Get curious again.

Find out whether the limitation is still there. Understand what's causing it. Work out whether there's a sensible way to improve it.

And if there isn't, find another way to remain capable.

Because there's an important difference between respecting a limitation and building your entire life around the assumption that it can never change.

One is wisdom.

The other might be an unnecessarily small world.

At our age, we have enough experience to know that determination alone doesn't solve everything.

But we should also have enough experience to know that our first conclusion isn't always the correct one.

So here's something worth considering this week.

Think of one physical ability you've quietly written off.

Not something reckless. Something ordinary that you used to enjoy or take for granted.

Now ask yourself:

Do I actually know that I can't do it anymore, or have I simply stopped finding out?

You might discover that your original decision was entirely justified.

But you might also discover that there's still some ground worth taking back.

And wouldn't that be something?

— Psymon

P.S. One of the ideas running through Unbreakable After 50 — The Structural Rebuild is that rebuilding begins with understanding what you're dealing with, rather than simply accepting the first explanation.

It's the philosophy behind these weekly letters, developed much further in the book.

If you haven't picked up a copy yet, the eBook and audiobook are available now.

Explore Unbreakable After 50

And to everyone who's already reading or listening, thank you.

— Psymon unbreakable-after-50.html

“The 1-Hour Breakthrough Call for Men Over 50”