On this side of eternity
In May 2026, I went for a one-session dance class organised by the senior group in church. Ms Tan Li Leng, our sexy 68 year-old dance teacher/fitness coach moved with such elegance, energy and grace. She told us that at 50, she took up pole dancing. 😱
I wondered if I could ever attain that level of fitness (or sexiness 🤣).
Twice a week from July 2025, I went for Gym Tonic (the Uncle Auntie Gym for seniors). Each course lasts 24 sessions. I got booted out in April 2026 after completing two courses – 48 sessions – to make way so other seniors can have a go at it.
I didn’t want to lose the momentum I had already started at Gym Tonic. So I began looking at different programmes: Health Promotion Board’s Healthy365, ActiveSG’s health hubs and programmes, and using our neighbourhood Fitness Corners. I know that without a programme, without exercise partners and a community committed to keeping fit TOGETHER, all my wishes and dreams will fall to naught.
The algorithms must have picked up my disquiet because in no time, Facebook and YouTube started bombarding me with gym and fitness coaching ads. I watched their videos: women in their 60s and 70s lifting weights and the likes.
In a drive to encourage citizens to stay fit, the government has given us SG$100 a year to subsidise for joining any ActiveSG programmes. In fact, seniors above 65 get to use the public gym and pools for free 😘. I found AquaAerobics (AA), an 8-session programme that I had been trying to sign up for the longest time. 30 spaces are always taken up almost as soon as the ad goes up online. I was thrilled when I was able to sign up for it, and with a discount of 30%!
Me Then 🏊🏼♀️
I fell in love with swimming when I was about twelve. I came from a small all-girls school. We didn’t have enough girls interested in swimming but my best friend Catherine and I (yes, we had to be different) chose swimming as our ECA. The two of us made up the entire school swimming team! 🤣 Our school didn’t have enough girls to hold a swimming meet so the school arranged for us to join the boy’s school next door when they had their meet.
There were only Catherine and I during the competition so we ALWAYS won, first and second 🏆. They used a whistle to kick off the race because we were afraid of the pistol. Yes, it was that long ago. They now use an electronic horn to start the race. OK I digress.
Reality Check
So now in my senior years, I pat myself on my shoulders each time I complete 10-20 fifty-metre laps every time I go swimming. I say to myself, “Angel, you are great!” LOL that was before I tried AquaAerobics! 🤦🏻♀️ AA challenges my body in ways I never imagined. At first it’s like just you and the instructor. It’s so fun following the beat of the music 🎶 and the trainer’s directions.
Then she bursts your bubbles🌪️ when she hands out a foam “noodle” or a foam dumbbell (see photo). They are light but my goodness! They are buoyant and they don’t obey you. When you swim, your body is elegantly gliding. You can take your time. In AA, the equipment goes in every direction and not where you want it to stay when you push it under water. Your body works very hard to keep balance.
Then she says, “Alright everyone, get a partner!” or “OK get in groups of fours” or “everyone get in a line or form a full circle.” Imagine 30 bodies moving at their own pace. Some fast, some slow, some new, some seasoned. It’s uncoordinated chaos waiting to happen. Your mind saying one thing but your body doing whatever it likes.
It’s the perfect core-builder.
It was only after AquaAerobics that I realised what’s been wrong about the way I exercise. I go for walks or cycles, I go to the gym or to the pool. I say, “Wow, good job Angel!” My body is not challenged. My core is not worked.
Me Now
In early August 2026, I picked up the flu bug. Reluctantly, I went on a course of antibiotics. It’s been almost two months. A change in temperature, a gust of air or the haze triggers a long spasm of coughing. On some days, I lay in bed, not feeling sick-sick, but not feeling well-well either. My mind races with so many ideas and things I want to do, but my one and only body doesn’t always want to cooperate.
My world is lived more in my head than in my physical body. I want to be fit, but my efforts do not match my desires. My commitment falls far short of my dream of being fit. The could-be-healthier body I have is the price I pay for my lack of discipline all these years. I wish I could find that shortcut elixir that would reset me to a healthier version of my younger self.
Then it hit me. I will cross the 66 mark very soon. 🎂 I’m closer to the big SEVEN 7️⃣ than I am to six! How did I get here? I still think I’m a young person until my stiff back, frozen shoulders, or crackling knees scream at me after the wrong move. I don’t like the scorecard of my medical checks.
Mama and Mummy
My maternal grandma lived to a ripe old age of 90, short of a few months. While Mum went to work, Mama took care of our home and three cannot-sit-still grandchildren. She was healthy, independent and a big help to the family. Mum said that at age 50, Mama could jump across the big longkang (drain) in her sarong! Why she would do that, I don’t know.
At age 89, Mama had a fall and broke her hip. I saw her quickly deteriorate from an independent, mobile person to one confined to her chair and bed. She passed on within two months.
Mum is 95. She had always been the boss. While she’s still mentally alert, I see her surrendering the reins as we help her with simple daily things we take for granted like help with taking a shower, getting dressed. She can still do many things but her independence is slowly eroding. She’s still the boss, telling us where to push her on her Rolls-Royce wheelchair whenever we go out.
You don’t know what you have until you lose it.
I know a lady about my age (in her 50s or early 60s) who goes around in her PMD (personal mobility device). Remember the dance class I attended? Well, she was there dancing! She can walk! I know she had an injury that qualified her to get the PMD but why she chooses to continue using her PMD instead of walking is a mystery to me. Indifferent to the people around her, she scoots her no-need-to-be-there PMD up the bus, delaying others, taking up three spaces when standing she would just take up one.
What are you learning about looking after your body? There are a few things I am learning which I will share over a few posts. Wait for it.
My wish right now at 66 is to stay mobile and agile till the day I switch address and walk the streets of heaven.