When I read some midlife men’s dating profiles I get tired. Not from reading, but from their exhaustive list of extreme activities — rock climbing, remote backpacking, BASE jumping, snow camping, cliff flying. While I appreciate their exuberance for adrenaline, I grow weary just reading their exploits.
Am I not adventurous? I am in my own way. In recent years I’ve spent 6-8 weeks abroad, exploring the world. But my idea of adventure is coming back to a friend’s guest suite, a nice hotel or B&B. I’m not happy camping, nor do I enjoy roughing it.
Plus, my body is showing it’s displeasure at all-day walks on concrete, cobblestones, or forest paths. My feet and knees tell me this isn’t their idea of a good time. I don’t like succumbing to the signs of aging so I’m taking a therapeutic yoga class to see if I can counter my body’s “issues.” I call it “yoga for the decrepit” because each of my fellow yoginis have some chronic challenge they are working to reduce.
I’m tempted to change my online profile to “ISO someone equally decrepit” but that is an exaggeration — although hopefully a funny one. I’m sure some would take me seriously and think I could only navigate with a walker. In hopes of potential suitors getting the proper perspective, I say I’m “active but not athletic.” I do aerobics 3-4 times a week and now yoga 2 times as well. In the summer I bike on a nearby nearly flat trail, but am not up to peddling up mountains anymore.
How do you express your physical limitations — if any — to potential suitors? Do you tell them in a first encounter or wait until they say, “I’d love to go on a 40-mile mountain bike ride with you” before explaining that you’ll await them at the end point with a nice beverage?
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Maybe physical fitness isn’t your strength. But you have plenty of others. Want to explore yours? Get Assessing Your Assets: Why You’re A Great Catch