10-16-18, 06:40 AM | |
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
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The thing is - if you don't workout you lose strength and that's worse than looking your age. You can't move, can't do the things you used to. I'm running into this. I have always been a steady exerciser until I lost some weight and then from sheer stupidity I then just stopped working out. I haven't been able to get back into it like I used to and boy, did I notice some changes. I now can't keep my head lifted - I have to support it. Forget about tall box climbs - I tried to get on a stool and couldn't lift my own body weight to get up. Now I'm just struggling and I feel so weak. Don't fret how you look - if I don't get going I'll be some slow moving weak old lady.
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Indy ______________ STS Grad |
10-16-18, 08:33 AM | ||||
VF Supporter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Kansas
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What a great thread! The statements below really resonated with me so I copied them and sent them to myself in an email to look at periodically
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10-16-18, 09:54 AM | |||
VF Supporter
Join Date: Mar 2002
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In May, I started a thread:
Let's talk about "old talk" It links to Old Talk: The New Brand of Body Bashing Why we engage in these critical conversations, how they harm us and how to stop them. If I'm going to choose a limited excerpt, I'll choose this part, and not merely because it's "the first step." It reaffirms some of the things said so far in this thread, particularly about what some of us have chosen to think and to say: Quote:
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Although in one way I can agree with TracyQ that this thread can make people sad--I myself feel saddened after reading some posts--I'm also hopeful that we're at least discussing the subject, not dismissing or suppressing this discussion because we still considered endless body disparagements the "natural" way of being. (I also love that signature line: "Cellulite is not a character defect." The necessity of saying so reflects why I distrust the mainstream "fitness" community.) I'll talk more about other steps later.
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"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." The Velveteen Rabbit |
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10-16-18, 12:39 PM | ||
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Orange County, CA
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I have never been gorgeous even when I was young, so in a way I feel lucky that at age 61 I don't feel like I've lost something precious and that I no longer get the attention I did when I was young. But I do think I look healthy and energetic and happy, which is my goal. |
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10-16-18, 02:15 PM | |
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: the Sunny South
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It has taken me 50 years to grow into myself.
When I was 30, I hated how I looked. I thought I was fat and ugly. I now look at photographs of me at 30, and I am ashamed of what I thought. I was beautiful. At some point, near 40, I decided never to look in the mirror and tell myself that I was fat and ugly. I had done that every day for nearly all of my conscious life, and I decided that it was time to quit. I did. I love being 50. My husband encouraged me to grow out my grey hair. It was a rough time, watching the red leave and the salt and pepper come in. I had to learn to transcend hair and focus on what made me happy. My hair is almost grown out now, and when I look in the mirror, I now see a 50 year-old woman, a woman with experience and wisdom and lines and (finally!) peace. I take care of myself, figuring that I am my most valuable possession. I do things that feel like they have been prescribed for me by a physician: heavy weights, yoga. When I let my grousing get in the way and skip these things, I feel worse. I have tapped into my creative side. I knit. I paint. I write. I have a goal to sew all of my own clothes. I have cleaned out my life, taking bag upon bag upon bag to Goodwill. I listened a podcast (Ask a Clean Person) that had professional organizers on it. They said that people often hold onto things that remind them of a former time in their life that they can't quite let go of -- for instance, a woman who quit being a lawyer to care for her children who is unwilling to get rid of her work suits. I have asked myself this, many times over: what I am holding onto that I need to let go? I walk every day. I go to bed tired. I reach out to friends. I travel. I love deeply. Yes, I look in the mirror critically at times, but I stop myself. It is a good body, I tell myself, a body that has carried children, that has run, that has walked, that has served me so very well for 50 years, and that -- if I'm lucky -- will serve me for many more. That's how I cope. AF Check out my blog at www.typeALC.com |
10-16-18, 02:25 PM | ||
Join Date: Sep 2008
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aging, aging old gracefully, getting older, gratitude, old talk, social media, social media envy |
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