don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

What does it take to be well? How best to pursue a good life? Questions like this do not have a single answer, as unlimited possibilities invite many answers. None would be best for all; few among us ever find just THE right path and, even if we somehow did, there can be no way of knowing such was the case. The best we can do is to seek a good measure of satisfaction with paths chosen. Many are not of our own selection independent of a little help from our friends and other influences, so humility as well as gratitude is in order when things go well.

I've been writing about my own paths or way of being well, seeking a good life for more than thirty years. I have more than a few "answers" to the rhetorical query "how best to do it" and the other day I came across an approach that sounded particularly attractive. I'll quote it for you—I wonder what you think of this approach to wellness:

You've got to be physically pretty strong to be any good at it at all. You've got to have a hard-core mental attitude. You've got to have the right mantra. You've got to have dedication, a sense of security, safety and sensitivity with your partners, and a good sense of balance. It's a combination of many, many things. You need to have the capability or desire to accept a certain amount of risk. A lot of it is maybe spiritual, not a religious type, but you have to have an affinity with the outdoors.

As mentioned, I think this formula has a nice ring to it. I certainly don't disagree with any parts of it. The author is Wolfgang Paul Heinrich Beckey, best known as Fred Beckey, an impressive senior in his mid-eighties living in Seattle and planning yet another climb of the great peaks around the world, as he has for many decades. Fred was profiled in a recent New York Times column on aging. (Michael Brick, "Pushing The Limit - At 85, More Peaks to Conquer and Adventures to Seek, New York Times, December 16, 2008.)

Fred Beckey's friends say he's been everywhere and that he does amazing things while he's there! Now as in the past, he is said to have great drive, wanderlust and a touch of recklessness. Fred calls himself a rock climber, but that's a bit like saying Tiger Woods is a golfer, or Lance Armstrong likes to ride a bike. Fred Beckey is a major character, who writes and philosophizes as well as climbs, and is known widely as a vagabond, a recluse, a renegade, a showboat, a womanizer and a schemer—for starters. A climber since 1939, Fred is well known to those who read mountaineering journals, literary guidebooks ("a stirring amalgam of technical analysis, historical insight, geographical research and a sense of wonderment") and the maps of newly discovered peaks, one of which (an 8,500 foot spire in a remote part of southeastern Alaska) has been named "Mount Beckey" in his honor.

Besides reading about Beckey, you might want to take a little inspiration from the wellness lesson of his life story. And what might that inspiration be, you ask? How about, as Steve Martin might say, be a "wild and crazy guy," not in the mold of Fred Wolfgang Paul Heinrich Beckey but in your own style, with panache while having fun. As you get much older, you can get away with much more—so take advantage of this opportunity. Within limits, of course.

Be well and always look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of appearance and aging. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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