If you’re over 70 and can still parallel park confidently, get up from the floor without using your hands, and remember a phone number without writing it down—your body is functioning at a level most people your age quietly lost years ago without realizing it

Last week at the community center, I challenged a group of fellow retirees to try something: Sit cross-legged on the floor, then stand up without using their hands, a chair, or anything else for support.

Out of twelve people, only three managed it.

Here’s what struck me: Most of them hadn’t even realized they’d lost this ability until that moment.

If you’re reading this and you’re over 70, I have a similar challenge for you.

Tomorrow morning, try parallel parking between two actual cars (not just pulling into an empty spot), then sit on your living room floor and get back up using only your legs.

Finally, memorize a new phone number and recall it an hour later.

How did you do? If you managed all three, you’re operating at a level that most people our age lost somewhere along the way (probably without even noticing it happened).

These are markers of something much bigger: Cognitive sharpness, physical strength, and the kind of functional fitness that keeps us truly independent.

The silent slide we don’t talk about

There’s this thing that happens after 70 that nobody really warns you about.

There’s no single moment when everything changes.

Instead, abilities quietly slip away, one at a time, so gradually that we adjust without realizing what we’re adjusting to.

First, maybe you stop sitting on the floor because getting up takes effort, then you avoid tight parking spots because they’re “annoying.”

Phone numbers? Well, that’s what contacts lists are for, right?

Each accommodation seems perfectly reasonable at the time but string them together over months and years, and suddenly you’re living in a smaller world than you used to.

Your body and brain—always efficient—stop maintaining abilities you’re not using.

Use it or lose it is biological law.

I noticed this myself a few years back when I dropped my reading glasses under the couch.

Getting down to retrieve them was fine, but getting back up? Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

That’s when I realized I’d been unconsciously avoiding floor-level activities for who knows how long.

Why parallel parking matters more than you think

You might wonder what parallel parking has to do with aging well.

Everything, actually.

Successfully parallel parking requires spatial awareness, depth perception, neck flexibility, core strength to twist and look, cognitive processing to judge distances, and the confidence to execute multiple steps under pressure.

It’s a full-body, full-brain workout disguised as an everyday task.

When someone says they “just don’t parallel park anymore,” what they’re really saying is they’ve started doubting their ability to integrate all these complex skills.

Once we stop challenging ourselves with complex tasks, our capacity for them diminishes.

I make myself parallel park at least once a week, usually when I go to the library downtown where the spots are notoriously tight.

Yes, sometimes I have to readjust (sometimes twice), but I do it because maintaining this skill means maintaining dozens of interconnected abilities that keep me sharp and capable.

The floor is your fitness test

Getting up from the floor without assistance might seem trivial, but research shows it’s one of the strongest predictors of longevity and quality of life in older adults.

It requires leg strength, core stability, balance, and flexibility; basically everything that keeps us mobile and independent.

When I started those dance classes at 62, I was horrified to discover how much flexibility I’d lost.

The warm-up involved sitting on the floor, and I watched twenty-somethings pop up like toast while I strategically positioned myself near the barre “for stretching purposes” (really for hauling myself upright).

Now, twice a week at dance class, we regularly move from standing to floor work and back up again.

It took months of practice, but now I can do it smoothly.

Not gracefully, mind you—I’m not claiming swan-like elegance here—but I can do it.

Eevery time I do, I’m maintaining strength and balance that will keep me independent for years to come.

Your brain on phone numbers

Remember when we knew dozens of phone numbers by heart?

These days, I meet people who don’t even know their own spouse’s number without checking their phone.

Here’s why this matters: Memorizing and recalling numbers exercises the exact type of memory that typically declines with age.

Working memory—the ability to hold and manipulate information in your mind—is like a cognitive muscle.

Every time you memorize a new phone number, recall a shopping list, or do mental math, you’re giving that muscle a workout.

I’ve made it a point to memorize one new phone number each month.

My granddaughter’s cell, the new dentist’s office, the community center where I dance.

It takes more repetition than it used to, sure, but the act of doing it keeps those neural pathways active and responsive.

The compound effect of staying sharp

Here’s what I’ve learned from teaching teenagers for thirty years and now navigating my seventies: small, consistent challenges compound over time.

Just like my students who read every day became stronger readers without realizing it, we can maintain our abilities by regularly using them.

When I signed up for that 5K my friend suggested, I stuck the training plan right on my fridge.

Every day I saw it, every day I did something.

Not always the full workout, sometimes just a walk around the neighborhood waving at familiar faces, but I kept moving and pushing slightly beyond comfortable.

The magic is in continuing to do ordinary things that require effort, such as parallel parking when you could choose an easier spot, sitting on the floor during visits with grandchildren, and memorizing the new neighbor’s phone number even though you could save it in your phone.

Start where you are

If you tried my challenge and struggled, don’t worry: The beautiful thing about our bodies and brains is they respond to training at any age.

Can’t get up from the floor today? Start by sitting on a low stool.

Can’t parallel park? Practice in an empty parking lot with cones.

The point is refusing to let abilities slip away unnoticed and unchallenged.

Every small effort counts, and every deliberate challenge to your comfort zone maintains not just that specific skill but the confidence and capability that comes with it.

We’re the generation that adapted to everything from rotary phones to smartphones, and we’ve proven we can learn and grow.

Now, it’s time to prove we can maintain and preserve.

Staying truly independent is about living fully, with all our capacities intact and ready to use.