Over 50 Happy and Fit
Do YOU remember when YOU were young and thought that women over 40 are very old? I sure did and now that I am almost 60………. it's not old at all.
How do YOU feel about your age, the state of YOUR body and YOUR mind? Are YOU happy with YOUR life? If not, what do YOU do about it?
I come from a background where I heard, and for that matter, hear the following sentence a lot: Things are the way they are and I am the way I am and that's it……….no room for growth 🙂
These days I don’t have to accept this statement as truth any more. It's empowering for me to be fit and happy and to create my life the way it works for me.
I started making changes when I was 50 and it has been a marvelous, but also a painful journey of self-discovery. But to be honest even the pain was ok, because it helped me feel my feelings.
My life up to that point was ok, or at least that's what I thought………….
Turning 40 I was middle aged-plump, I weighed about 160 pounds and did not feel good in my skin. Eventually I signed up for the gym and did a 3 day routine, lost some weight but not much……..Turning 50, I went through a total crises and changed my diet, my lifestyle. some of my friends, my old way of thinking and more.
I dropped French bread and replaced it with dark German whole grain bread, I quit alcohol, smoking and comfort food……… Or to be honest I still had comfort food sometimes and here and there I had a glass of wine with dinner. I believe that it's too hard to be too strict with myself; there are always exceptions to my rules.
My new diet included more steamed vegetables and salads, and water replaced juices. The interesting thing was that I quit smoking but did not have a desire to binge eat. That was a miracle, It probably was due to the fact that I practiced meditation and lots of methods to help me be aware of what I think and what I do.
These programs and teachers helped me:
- Mind power with John Kehoe
- Mindfulness meditation
- 12 step programs
- Byron Katie
- Louise Hay
- Eckhart Tolle
Now that I'm 59, I still keep up my gym routine, I found a class that I love. A mix of Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Gong. I do weights and I love power plate exercises, which also helps with osteoporosis… or so I heard. I love to ride my bike and go for walks.
One of my other favorites is 5 rhythm classes, but so far I have not been able to find it in my town in Germany, although I could take the train to Cologne………..It's funny, when I lived in the state a one hour commute was normal. At times, I would do it every day, now I think it's too hard….I have to meditate on this one………..Anyway, it’s important to make it fun and keep it exciting.
Yesterday I met a woman at the gym, she is 62 and has the body of a 30 year old, I kept noticing her and thought wow, this is amazing……… she inspires me. We started chatting about life, what we do in order to keep our bodies fit and how we stay inspired and happy.
She told me that she works with a hospice service as a volunteer which reminded me that I wanted to volunteer for a hospice service for a long time, but keep talking about and have not done it. So now that I got the contact information of the organization that does the training, I will talk to them.
For me this was another sign that it's something I should do. Believe it or not I've been thinking and talking about it for years……………….I believe in signs, if I want to do something and somehow reminders show up out of the blue, it's my sign to DO IT. This is part of my "spiritual fitness."
To recognize the signs, follow my intuition and my gut instinct. If I live my life according to these guidelines I’m in tune with myself. Meditation and self-reflection are great tools to help strengthen these qualities.
How do YOU keep your mind and your body fit? Please leave a comment I love to read them.