Making the Most of 60+

 Tomorrow I'm 64. WoooHooo! 

Actually, I feel 30. Except for the stiff back from sleeping on the couch for two days because my new foster dog has anxiety issues.  He's adorable, but is still getting used to us. 

I always look at each decade as an adventure. Something to meet with joy & awe.  This decade had me opening my own business and facing the challenges of running it during Covid. 

So for this new year of my 60 decade, what challenges shall we find? Adventures shall we plan? Or goals shall we set?  Okay, let's give it a go. What would be good things to do/see/experience for 64? 

•  Build my business 
• Publish another Book on Amazon (It's written but now comes the edit)
• Post some short stories on The Midnight Brain
• Rescue more dogs 
• Buy a home
• Get organized
• Lose 10... okay, 15 pounds
• Make friends
• Plant a garden
• Paint a mural 

So what's your plans for this year of your life? 

Writing Prompt, Dec 14, 2020

 

Writing Prompt for Dec 14th;  I dream I could be...

Writing Prompt for Dec 12, 2020

Writing Prompt;  Books & Feelings

Today's Writing Prompt

 Today is December 11, 2020

The Writing Prompt for today is;  New life, new challenges 

When Death Creeps Close

When someone near to you dies you do go through grief and shock but as you move up in years you think about other things. You grasp for a reason why someone your own age just passed away. 

Mortality smacks you in the face. 

This year I lost both a good friend and relative. The friend smoked for years and it was those nasty cigarettes that finally did her in. She was 65. Bright, vibrant and taken too soon. The relative had health problems she didn't share. (Younger by a few years) That was more of a shock due to the fact we thought everything was alright. 

It wasn't. But her passing was still a shock even to those who knew she had health problems.

When you're 20 or 30 and someone your age passes away it's always a shock but not something that makes you question your own health and lifestyle. 

Then you hit 60 and your perspective is skewed in the "could that have been me?" zone. You start to question that twinge in your chest, the cramp in your calf, and that forgetfulness.  

I think we have to double check everything. Make sure your meds (yes there are two to date) are good and go back to exercising regularly. Throughout the years exercise has come and gone and come back again. In my 20's I was hard core, then came kids and it got sporadic, then through the years it came and went. One thing stays constant? It does make you feel better. Jars are easier to open, boxes lift with less strain, your back thanks you, and squatting down doesn't mean you're stuck down there until someone gives you a lift. 

So to those who have passed I send my prayers, to those who are suffering I send hope that their health takes a turn for the better. 

For me? I need to clean out the spare room and get some weights. A few weeks ago I got a dog so the cardio is on the uptick. Dogs need walks and living where winter never drops below 60 degrees makes walking easy and enjoyable. 

Tomorrow I attack the pile of boxes in the spare room to make space for exercise. Yeah! 

Dreams, Goals & the Craziness of Youth

We were young. We were crazy.
Sometimes looking back at the roads we traveled, the chances we took, I have to wonder why we survived.
From lost in Helmetta to 2 am runs three towns over, what were we looking for? What were we hoping to find?
Crazy.
I don't know if it was the time of society or the time of our youth that we got away with so much, but insanity sure fed our useless ambitions. Ambitions to nowhere. No goals ruled our crowd, no hope for anything but the right here, right now.
Who the hell were we?

Now almost 40 years later I look back and wonder where the time went. Why decisions weren't made differently. Decisions to move forward instead of just going with the flow. College should have come first. It's my biggest regret. Although I did some college later in life I know if I had gone during those young and crazy years, if I had chosen my goal then, I'd be more satisfied now.
Yes, I do know that. In my soul.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

The question they throw at you when you're barely 5 or 6 years old. When you don't know anything about the world or the possibilities it contains. Why aren't kids exposed to more of the world before they're asked that question? I think it would change a lot of lives.

I knew.
When I was 5 or 6 and asked that question my answer was always "an artist."
I knew it then.
"Oh dear, artists don't make any money, pick something else."
As if it were that easy.

Now I know who I am but I'm not where I want to be or would be had I been encouraged instead of told to "pick something else."

To be who you are meant to be is a sense of freedom. To be encouraged allows dreams to launch. You're okay! You can do this! Keep going!

Dreams are meant to be chased.
Don't ever forget that. 

Couch vs Exercise & a Chihuahua

It's 3 a.m. and the Chihuahua woke me up.

I think she was either spooked by maybe some thunder rumbling in the area (I heard nothing) or she was hungry.

Now I'm wide awake and she's snoozing on the couch beside me. Oh, the things we do for our pups. She'll also get to sleep all day while I go to work. I think I'm going to have to take her for a nice long walk tonight to make sure she sleeps through the night.

I've walked two miles a day for the past few days. When I finish my legs feel like lead. I don't remember this from when I used to walk...age? I think no matter what happens after 50 we tend to blame it on age. Eyesight? Thinning hair? (Take the Hair, Skin, Nails vitamin in the pink box.) Sore joints?

Bah! I'm thinking it's not age that got us there, but inactivity. As we get wrapped up in life, exercise takes a back seat and that couch looks better and better. Then the couch becomes our habit and it's all down hill from there. So from now on my mantra is; Exercise before Couch. If the couch calls, I must earn the couch time with walking and weights.

Except at 3 a.m.

Good night ....again.