This article was inspired by A Fresh Mindset’s article, “I Spent 30 Years Learning These 10 Lessons The Hard Way.” While reading it, I found myself reflecting on the things I had started late in life — and the things I wish I had started much earlier.

These are some of the habits I started late in life — some in my 50s and many only after retirement, when I was nearing 70.

As the saying goes, “Better late than never.” I am grateful that I eventually started them and happy with what they have added to my life. Yet I often wonder how much more I might have gained had I started these habits earlier. Some of them could have shaped my life, health, interests, and outlook much sooner.

1. Yoga

I had some exposure to yoga off and on in my 40s, but I took it seriously only when I was 53. Since then, I have attended multiple yoga courses conducted by the Isha Foundation and have been practicing regularly, almost every day.

I have to confess that some of the asanas (yoga postures) have remained difficult for me. Perhaps I would have been able to do them had I started practicing seriously at a younger age. Yet I am grateful for what yoga has given me. The flexibility and mobility I have today — being able to squat, sit on the floor, and get up without support — are largely the result of my yoga practice. I also feel that the neck exercises that are part of my daily practice have helped me manage the vertigo I have experienced.

Looking back, I wish I had understood in my 40s that yoga wasn’t primarily about performing difficult postures. It was about preserving the ability to move freely as I grew older.

I wish I had cared for my physical flexibility earlier

2. Meditation

I started meditation around the same time as yoga, as part of my Isha Yoga practices. Unlike yoga, which involves physical flexibility, meditation can be practiced at any age. My daily morning meditation and breathing exercises help me start the day with a sense of calmness.

Yoga taught me to take care of my body. Meditation taught me to pay attention to my mind.

I often wonder how much meditation might have helped me during my professional years, particularly in managing stress and maintaining focus.

I wish I had developed mindfulness and focus earlier.

3. Preserving Travel Memories

Thanks to my wife, who is passionate about traveling, I started traveling both within the country and internationally in my 40s. But it was only after retirement that I started recording my experiences in the form of blogs, digital albums and travel videos. For many of my international trips before retirement, I have little to look back on apart from a few photographs.

We often think we will remember the places we visited, the people we met and the experiences we had. We don’t. We may have the photos, but over time we can forget the memories behind them.

I wish I had documented my experiences as they happened

4. Writing

I started writing articles only a couple of years ago, initially in my native language in Facebook groups. More recently, I have begun sharing reflections based on my personal experiences on Medium.

Looking back, I realize that the interest in writing was there much earlier. I participated in writing competitions in college and even won a few prizes, but I never considered writing a skill that I should consciously develop. The advent of computers, the internet, and social media has certainly made it much easier for anyone to write and share their thoughts, but I wish I had made at least a little effort to continue developing my interest in writing.

When you discover an ability or an interest, don’t assume you will come back to it later. Life has a way of pushing it further and further down the list.

I wish I had recognized and nurtured an ability I already had.

5. Learning & Appreciating Music

I started listening to South Indian classical music, also known as Carnatic music, only in recent years, after retirement. Chennai, India, hosts a major music season every December, with hundreds of Carnatic concerts taking place across the city. I have been attending this festival for the past four years.

I often feel that if I had been exposed to Carnatic music earlier in life, I would have been able to understand its nuances and appreciate it much better today. With that in mind, I have recently signed up for an online course on Appreciating Carnatic Music.

I understand that during our younger years, our priorities are different. We focus on our careers, raising children, family responsibilities, and everything else that comes with them. But sometime in our 40s or 50s, we begin to have opportunities to pursue interests beyond our professional lives. Looking back, I could have used some of that time to learn an instrument or develop a deeper understanding of music.

I wish I had developed an interest in music earlier — not necessarily to become a musician, but simply to learn how to listen.

6. Learning Another Language

I enrolled in a two-month online course in spoken Hindi and attended the sessions last year. While I still have a long way to go before I can speak Hindi fluently, the course has helped me to some extent when visiting places in North India.

Although I grew up in India, I could not understand Hindi, which is widely spoken across the northern part of the country. Looking back, I realize that I could have learned another language of my choice much earlier instead of waiting until retirement.

Learning a language isn’t only about becoming fluent. Even knowing a few words and phrases can change the way you connect with people and experience a place.

I wish I had expanded my ability to connect with people and places earlier.

7. Strength Training

For many years, I thought that my regular cardio exercises were enough to keep me fit. I started doing treadmill workouts in my 40s. It was only much later that I understood the importance of strength training, particularly as we age.

I began strength training only in my late 60s. Even a short workout with weights can be challenging for me. That has made me realize how much easier it might have been had I started strength training decades earlier.

Looking back, I now understand that strength training is not simply about becoming stronger. It is about building and preserving the muscle strength that helps us stay active and independent as we age.

I wish I had understood the importance of muscle strength earlier.

8. Hiking

I started visiting national parks only after retirement, and hiking the trails has become one of my favorite activities in these natural wonders. Until then, most of my travel had been to tourist destinations where walking was part of sightseeing, but hiking was quite limited.

I am happy that I have been able to hike to stunning viewpoints and other interesting places such as waterfalls, lakes and sites that cannot always be reached by road. But some of the more challenging hikes are beyond what I can undertake at this stage. Had I started hiking at least a decade earlier, some of those trails might have been within my reach.

Looking back, I realize that some experiences become more difficult with age, even when our desire to experience them remains strong.

I wish I had started hiking earlier.

9. Understanding Nutrition

During my professional years, my diet was often driven more by convenience than nutrition. At work, meals were often quick bites such as burgers and pizza, along with soup and sides. Even at home, there were times when we relied on ready-to-eat frozen meals. Whenever possible, I did prefer home-cooked food, but being brought up in a South Indian vegetarian family, my meals were primarily rice-based.

I grew up believing that being vegetarian was enough to mean I was eating well. Only much later did I understand that a vegetarian diet, like any other diet, needs to provide adequate protein, fiber and other nutrients.

Looking back, I wonder whether being more conscious of my nutrition earlier in life might have reduced my risk of developing conditions such as high cholesterol and prediabetes. At the very least, I could have paid more attention to what my body needed instead of simply continuing with familiar eating habits.

By the time I started recognizing the gaps in my diet, making changes was not always easy. Some protein-rich foods, such as paneer (Indian cheese) and tofu, did not agree with me because of digestive issues including lactose intolerance and acid reflux. Even protein drinks have not worked well for me.

I wish I had understood the value of good nutrition much earlier.

10. Expressing Myself

Of late, I have started expressing my feelings more openly, both on social media and in my personal interactions. Until recently, I often held back because of concerns about privacy and what others might think of me. There was also an inherent pressure to maintain the image I had built over the years, partly shaped by the social and cultural expectations I grew up with.

I am not suddenly claiming that I have become completely outspoken. I have simply become more comfortable expressing my thoughts and feelings and sharing some of my personal experiences.

Looking back, I realize that worrying too much about how others perceive us can sometimes prevent us from expressing who we really are. Not everything needs to be shared, and privacy is important. But we also don’t have to constantly worry about what others may think of us.

I wish I had given myself more freedom to express what I felt and thought.

Some things are difficult to appreciate when we are young. Their value often becomes clearer only as we grow older.

God willing, if I am around for a few more years, this article may need an updated version. After all, the learning never stops.

Originally published in https://medium.com/infinite-impulse/