Maintenance

So much of living life well is conscious maintenance. Exercise, diet, dental floss, all maintenance. I weed my garden and fertilize. More maintenance. I try to keep up with house cleaning and minor repairs as they arise. Maintenance again. And there is the time for reading and research on the Web. Mental maintenance. There is keeping up with friends. Social maintenance. The key to enjoying life as I age is learning to enjoy the maintenance, as much as possible. It's the old 'enjoying the trip' thing. Letting go of ideals of perfect stasis, or a final perfect destination, is crucial to this enjoyment. Relishing the tasks of daily living becomes less challenging when those tasks are greatly varied. Less boredom. And doing maintenance in steady small steps also helps. I find a calendar and note pad very helpful. When leisure does come, it is all the richer for my maintenance. I see maintenance as part of my daily practice.