Musings at Altitude

My car has 233,000 miles on it now.

It’s been about as good a car as anyone could ever imagine.

Reliable.

Dependable.

Enduring.

Sustaining.

Affordable.

Enjoyable.

Even though nothing has gone wrong, I took it in for it’s major maintenance yesterday.

About $2000 worth of routine, scheduled maintenance.

That got me thinking.

Why don’t we have routine, scheduled maintenance?

Why don’t we go into the shop every 10 years or so and come out with a clean bill of physical, mental, spiritual and professional health?

We typically finish formal learning in our 20’s, professional learning maybe in our 30’s, and physical training when our bodies seem to creak enough to encourage us to prioritize something other than that time of exercise.  And most of us never go in for any form of overhaul unless we collapse on the side of the road of life and are forced to put our bodies in the shop for that overhaul.

I wonder what would happen if we were incentivized to honor a scheduled maintenance program for bodies, minds and soul?

Would we do it?

Would our behavior and habits change?

If we knew that by changing our oil routinely and following religiously the scheduled maintenance that would extend our lives from the equivalent of 100,00 miles to well over 233,000 miles, would we actually do it?

I’m thinking probably not.

Some would.

But those are probably the folks that are committed to life extension strategies now.  They work out.  They eat right.  They get physicals.

And then there are the rest of us!

I think I need an overhaul!