I have a forty-year-old swimming pool. My home was built in 1977 and the pool was installed that year. I bought this property in 1979. It was my first home with a pool.
We had many happy days when the kids and grandkids used the pool daily during the swim season in south Texas. However, it requires a lot of attention – like our bodies.
When the pool was new, it looked great and literally took very little time to keep in optimum condition. Our teenage and young adult years see a similar profile. We didn’t do much to take care of ourselves and we looked good most of the time.
As the pool ages, cracks start to appear in the plaster. The susceptability to algae increases. The floating leaves and other debris are not skimmed off as quickly as they had been in the past. We didn’t devote as much time to it as we had in the past.
Our bodies age similarly. Various enzymes, proteins, hormones and other required chemicals aren’t created to the same levels as they had been in the past. Our bodies age and it shows.
The clarity of the water seems to be harder to maintain in an older pool. It might be my imagination. However, our bodies are definitely harder to maintain as we age.
When left unattended, floating debris ends up on the floor of the pool and it is more difficult to remove. The same is true of the debris in our organs and blood vessels. It creates inflammation and eventually disease.
I was out of town when a hurricane hit the Houston area several years ago. When I got home the algae was a quarter-inch thick on the surface (maybe more). It was not a pretty sight. We see similar situations where daily stress adds up and creates disease that could have been prevented if we had chosen to do so. Removing the source of the algae would have prevented the exponential growth.
Maintaining proper chemical balance in the pool water would have further prevented algae. Maintaining chemical balance in our bodies also prevents disease. Removing stress daily removes the source of many diseases.
It requires attention daily to maintain a clean, good-looking pool. It requires daily attention to have a healthy body. Whether it is your pool, your car, your relationship, or your business, daily attention is needed to prevent failure.