I want to appreciate you without judging. Join you without invading. Invite you without demanding. Leave you without guilt. – Virginia Satir
Last week I mentioned that I had gone to a Wellness event. If you’re anything like me, you can’t go to an event about wellness, and not come out of it without at least one thing to try or do to improve yourself. That is unless you’re perfect. If you are perfect, congratulations, perhaps you should be writing a blog on how you got there! But…I’m not that person.
I decided to commit to a couple of changes after the event. The first one was to accept the 30 Day Butt Challenge: http://30dayfitnesschallenges.com/30-day-butt-challenge/ . Did you check it out? Doesn’t the first week look doable?
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I am a runner. Not a marathoner, I’m a runner to keep “fit” or at least to keep my weight within a reasonable range. I do keep toying with the idea of running a 1/2 marathon before I'm 50. Until then, I run to burn off the calories from the days when the Tostitos and Hummus were the meal of choice. Not the healthiest route, but admittedly I know it well. It is one of my weaknesses I unfortunately enjoy. The scale tells me running does help me maintain my weight. There is a level of cardio I benefit from as well. Of course I assumed that running means my legs have muscles. Muscles to go forward, to climb hills, to take me miles away and back. Therefore, I definitely should not have trouble with a butt challenge!
Wait a second…I also have to remember I’m approaching
50. What happens to our skin as we
age? I’m now guessing there is a reason so
many plastic surgeons have booming businesses after all. There
really is a difference in shape and tone as you age. A long time ago, I made a promise to myself
that I would never weigh more than I did the day I got married. That’s my bench mark. The only time I allowed a deviation was
during pregnancy. I didn’t think, way
back then, that that wouldn’t be enough.
Just keeping within that weight range should be enough right? We also learned at the Wellness meeting that
people can be skinny and still be fat or at least not “tone” or healthy.
So
jeez…not wanting to judge too much, I thought am I really in shape? As I started the program I really began to
wonder. There were “new” muscles in my
legs that I didn’t know I wasn’t using as I was running. Being
the inquisitive person that I am, with camera in hand, I was brave enough to
take a few selfies! Silly me, I thought
there’s no better way to see if I was really in as good of shape as I thought I
was. My clothing still fits nicely, but
good golly it apparently does the trick of hiding some imperfections I didn't really know I had. Yep, I took a before shot and got that
measuring tape out to see if there really is a change after 30 days.
As I grabbed my camera and took those horrifying shots, I
definitely had a Yikes moment! I ran to
my computer and sent my friend an email and told her I was committed to the 30
day challenge. I’m demanding a change
for myself. I will definitely not leave
that image behind without any guilt! I
am secretly waiting for the 30 days to get over so I can take the after
shot. Here’s to hoping that the
elasticity doesn’t win!
How
do we appreciate the loss of elasticity as we age? That’s really what it is isn’t it? I remember back to my early 30’s and early
40’s thinking that sag won’t happen
to me. I’ll stay active, I’ll maintain
my weight, and I won’t be sagging when I’m 50.
My inspiration way back in the early 80’s was seeing Jane Fonda in On
Golden Pond. As she was approaching 50,
she was in the best shape of her life.
Remember the Jane Fonda Workout?
There is definitely something to continuing exercise that keeps you
younger looking longer. It was working
for her at that time so I jumped on board and started her exercises. Then life took on work, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, and then working full-time in a sitting position 8+ hours a day. Is there any wonder changes in "shape" occur as we age?
Here
I am, telling you that even remaining active can’t prevent the aging skin, losing
elasticity is natural. But, can being
more active now, slow it down? That’s my
new inspirational challenge. I’m going
to join the change of being 50 without allowing it to invade my life in an
adverse way. I watched my mom in her
50’s not fight. She was overweight,
diabetic, had hypertension and high cholesterol and she rarely exercised. For the next 15 years, she enjoyed her sedentary life. Her choices remain an inspiration to me of
what not to do. I’d rather die in a
running accident than die due to dementia secondary to a stroke. The diseases she had are preventable, they
aren’t hereditary to me. I can appreciate her love for the good life as
she was a happy person before the diseases got the best of her. I can appreciate the things that I can do to
prevent the diseases from taking over my life. Just doing that
will be the best gift I can give myself.
The second commitment I made had nothing to do with the
Wellness meeting. I had this long 5 week
discussion with myself re: greying hair.
I have gone back and forth between dreading the change, wanting to appreciate
the grey without judging it, join it without letting it invade my life, invite
it without demanding it to be okay, and leave the coloring without guilt.
I’m one of those lucky ones, my
grey is evenly distributed over my whole head. I
started getting grey hairs when I was in 7th grade so apparently I
have it mastered now. I
didn’t start coloring it though until I was 40.
I had promised myself that when I turn 50, I’d be done with coloring it. Now, I’m starting to second guess that
commitment. I even went so far as to ask
my husband, my daughter’s and my hairdresser for permission to just let the
grey take over. You’d think that after
all the support I’ve given them over the years and all those moments where a few of the greys came in due to things they may have caused me to worry
about, I assumed they’d be like, “Go for
it, embrace the change, do it, go grey! Nope, not a single one said, “go for
it.” It was more like, “you’ll look old,”
and “you won’t like it.” Whatever!
So I grabbed my camera again…YIKES! The truth shall set me free! I had let the time between colorings go a bit
longer. Long enough to see proof
positive that I don’t really want to go grey yet. I had a heart to heart with my
hairdresser. She’s right around the same
age, so very supportive and she knows the secrets of the masses who color. She ran through the options of what I could
do to go grey gradually, and then I asked her, what should I do? She said “look at that face, you’re not old
yet.” So I caved from my bravery and colored
it all again. Some things about aging
you can “change” after all! I will get to
the point of letting that beautiful grey stand alone, but until then, I’m sure
I’m not alone in the world of coloring the grey.
We
can slow the aging process down by appreciating our lives. Appreciating the things we can change and
appreciating the things we can’t.
Appreciate all the moments! What
are you going to do? Thanks for stopping
by, next week’s topic – Abundance.
PS – this week shooting in the RAW took on a new
meaning. Is there any truth to the
saying that the camera adds 10 pounds?
Yeah, that’s it…! I wonder if Jared from FroKnowsPhoto colors his fro?
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| The wind overnight created this beautiful smooth drift. |
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| I even captured the wind blowing over it. |
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| The winds of time create curves and dimples in the snow. It must be natural over time to get some curves and dimples as we age! |
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| That once smooth drift, has cellulite too! |
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| Unlike the leaves that turn grey and die, our hair doesn't grow in nice and green as we loose it... |
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| These precious little green leaves made it through the dead leaves. Amazing! |
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| Holy crap...that's a lot of nice and even grey! Precious white hairs growing through the black! Time to wash that grey right out of my hair! |
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| A martini may make you happier about the grey, but coloring it is easier and longer lasting therapy! Olive oil is good for you though... Cheers to the aging process! |
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