The Roger Murtaugh Method: The One Thing You Should Stop Telling Yourself If You Want to Change Your Life

Guest Post by Laura-Lee Smith

If you’ve ever seen Lethal Weapon you know the famous catchphrase of cynical, beleaguered homicide detective Roger Murtaugh. Heck, even if you haven’t seen Lethal Weapon you probably know the catchphrase or have whispered it to yourself at some point if, like me, you have passed the age of 40.  

I’m too old for this sh-t.

Humans, I can no longer drop it low.  I’m too old for that sh-t.  Ask me if I want to go out drinking until the break of dawn.  I’m too old for that sh-t!  Wanna stay up all night and work?  Heck naw, I’m too old for that sh-t!  How about a jog?  Oh honey, I’m too old for that shit…and fat.  Too old and fat for that sh-t.

Here’s the thing though, that many of us who live our lives by the Murtaugh catchphrase don’t realize. For all of Roger “dreaming of retirement” Murtaugh’s complaining about being too old, he constantly went out and did…well more of that sh-t he claimed he was too old for.

Somehow, we’ve forgotten that part and embraced the idea that old age is for not doing anything at all.

Some people welcome the idea of aging, and hanging up the trappings of youth.  The problem is we take this idea of being too old and apply it to parts of our life we shouldn’t.  

It’s no secret that as our bodies age the hard living, mistakes of youth, and time begin to make themselves known on our bones and muscles.  Our bodies don’t bounce back as quickly as they did and for some reason our society has taken that to mean there’s no coming back from the decline our bodies have begun to take.

Society has made youth the hallmark for health.  Every workout you see on TikTok or Instagram is from some lithe, limber young thing who promises to “murder” your abs and make you sweat buckets.

I don’t want to murder my abs!  Why can’t I gently assault them?

Part of the issue may be in the marketing itself, but the underlying message of ALL of those workout videos you look up is that working out and getting fit seems to be a “young person’s game”.  Not just working out, but fun in general.

When faced with these glowy skinned past selves we shrug off the idea that we miss parts of our youth by saying things like, “When I was your age…” or the dreaded and oftentimes patronizing, “If I was your age I would…”

If you were younger, you would what?  What would you do if you had your youth again that you feel like you can’t do now?  An even better question is why do you think you can’t do it now?

As I mentioned above, a lot of what we feel like we can’t do is physical.  For so many of us, we have spent a whole lifetime putting our health and wellness at the bottom of the list of things to do.  

If you’re anything like me, your past is drowning in beer and cheese fries.  You spent your youth trying to figure out who you really are because freaking millennials.  That included having a handful of very dramatic existential crises and you certainly can’t have those without a healthy smoking habit.  Plus, your twenty year old metabolism let you eat like a garbage can while allowing you to stay thin….until it didn’t.

Or you’re nothing like me, got married, pooped out a couple kids you can barely afford, and did the working parent thing.  You know you were near the bottom of that list. 

Whatever path we took, the difficulty of change becomes more daunting when we look back over that lifetime of essential self harm.  

Notice I said it was difficult.  Not impossible.  

Let’s not use age as an excuse.  Let’s rewrite what it means to be “older” in our society!

Being over 40 and having a history of not taking care of ourselves doesn’t mean we aren’t destined to be the healthiest we have ever been!

That old saying, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, is a lie.  If that dog is willing to learn, you surely can.  Plus we’re a little smarter than dogs……right?
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Roger Murtaugh huffed his way through 4 Lethal Weapon movies.  People, there’s a fifth one on the way, and even though you know you’re going to hear his famous catchphrase, we will buckle in and watch his graying ass do more sh-t.

Like Murtaugh, we may complain as we get our tired bones up and at’em.  It may take us a while to mentally remind ourselves that we are not dead and more capable than society and WE give ourselves credit for.  It may even take us a minute to figure out where to even start.

You’re in the right spot right now, to figure it out.

So, let’s learn some new tricks, go out, and do some sh-t.

It's never too late to make healthy changes. If you need a little extra support, be sure to check out our
​ Healthy Habits Workbooks today!