Have you ever considered ‘how’ you want to live when you are 80 or 90? I have been thinking about this more recently for a couple of reasons.
..I turn 55 tomorrow and over the last couple of years, during the menopause phase, my health hasn’t been as great as I want it to be, so I am looking and planning my next 30+ years for my health.
Watching your parents age can be a tricky thing. My Mum, who was always quite alternative in her thinking and eating, died quite young from Dementia. It was a tragic thing to watch her in her last 10 years of life as she started to lose interest in many things. From menopause, she struggled with her health experiencing ongoing infections, depression and thyroid issues. I didn’t have the knowledge i needed to really help her how I would have liked to. I did take her to a number of practitioners that I highly regarded and I think they helped, but there was more we needed to do which I didn’t understand at the time. On the other hand, my Dad, a man who worked hard all his life and we all thought would die young (sorry Dad), is about to turn 90! He is doing really well but I see his body starting to give way and not supporting him the way he would really like it to.
And then me, I have tried to maintain my health most of my life. When I started peri-menopause, it was in a very stressful time in my life, which I thought at the time I was handling. I wasn’t exercising in a way to really take care of myself, I wasn’t eating as well as I wanted, and my excuse was I had 3 kids who were quite fussy in their eating. And I was incredibly stressed. Then my periods stopped and my health crashed.
I had zero energy, constantly fatigued. I would wake every night and couldn’t get a refreshing night sleep. I gained weight, I was down and anxious with no motivation, and I was SO HOT, all the time! But it was only after a very dear friend was diagnosed with cancer that I actually stopped and realised that this couldn’t continue. I was heading into a very unhealthy place and if I felt like this in my 50s, what was I going to feel like when I was 80? Plus, my Husband was 60 and is in great shape and I need to keep up with him!
So the last 6 months or so have been a learning, adapting and changing time!
I am learning to take care of myself again. This had to start with finding out what was going on with the help of various different practitioners, then putting a plan in place to get where I want to be. This is no quick fix, my goal is to be in great shape when I am 60, like Hubby, and I am doing things on a daily basis with that goal in mind, and it feels good!
xx