60 Years Old & Don't Care What They Think

 Do things start annoying you as you get older or is it just that you don't give a damn what everyone thinks and are going to tell 'em what you think anyway? 

I think one of the biggest (and best!) changes that came with age was the ability to not care.  

I work in an Animal Rescue. When we have to medicate a dog we need a weight to make sure it gets the proper dosage. Usually the smallest person in the group is chosen to do help out. Getting the weight on a dog that doesn't fit on our smaller scale is done by one person getting on the scale, we get her weight, then she picks up the dog and gets back on the scale. Do some math and we got the weight. Easy. 

Hard part? If that skinny mini isn't there to jump on the scale today, who will step up?  😁 Yeah, I don't care. I jump on the scale. I don't care if you know my weight. Really, I spent years keeping it a secret and now? eh. I don't care. In the grand scheme of things, do you really think people care that much? 

And if they do want to focus on that number, well, that's on them. I'm going to go eat some ice cream. 

Not caring what people think is a free state of mind. You can be you and those who love you will still love you. (They probably knew all about you anyway) 

There's a poem that I think fits this time in life.

  When I'm an old Woman I shall Wear Purple.  

Check it out and wear that red hat that doesn't match & don't care so much about other people' brainwaves.

 

Half Way Over 60 & Wondering What's Next

 At 65 I have no idea where I'm going next. Does anyone?                        

When my mother was 65 she died. A second heart attack took her out. She languished in the hospital for almost a month before passing. Most of that time in a coma. Mom hadn't been in the best of health for years and I think the lack of medical know how and information kept her ill.

Today we have the internet and the ability to look up our symptoms and and research doctors who can help us. One reason I picked my last doctor was because RateMyMD.com had reviews that said, "she doesn't give up until she figures out what's wrong." The doctor I had before her was a waste of time. He would dish out medication without running tests and kept saying everything was stress. Simple answer that didn't help anything. 

I think if Mom had the right doctor she might have been healthier and lived a longer and more enjoyable life. 

At 65 today I can lift 50 lbs of dog food, wrestle a 60 lb shep mix into a harness and still keep going. Don't ask me how because not every day is perfect. Some days it's exhausting, other days I breeze through. 

I've been reading a lot about positive thinking and that old law of attraction stuff. Right now it's all over social media sites and there's lot's of tiktok'ers talking about it. 

So, how to make this positive? I'm repeating the following; 

"I have the body & health of my 21 year old self" 

Me at 21 - 1st degree Black Belt

I repeat this several times a day. Especially when my back tells me to slow down, my knees creak and the hip screams as I try to stand. 

"I have the body & health of my 21 year old self."

Then I have to wonder if it really is mind over matter.  There are reports that a long time ago living to over hundred was a normal thing.  Then I started to do research but didn't really find any truth to that. Check out the page Ancient Origins where they come up with other meanings for the reports of living longer. 

So back to what I want out of life at 65? That would be good health, fun times, and work that brings the satisfaction of helping others. (I choose to help dogs & cats in rescue) And I get to play with puppies. 😎 

I think positive thinking is helpful but not sure it's going to make me feel like I'm 21 again. That was a very good year. However 65 hasn't been too bad either. 

Where are you now? Does it make you happy? 

Let's Wine about it. Joint pain?

 I drink wine. 

Not often but maybe once a week or so I'd have a glass. 

Let's talk about the last two times I tried wine.  Both spaced a couple weeks apart. 

First; A popular American wine. Delicious. 

Next morning it felt like every joint hurt, wrists, knees, ankles, elbows, and I had a headache. So then I was thinking what did I do differently yesterday that makes my joints feel like they're on fire today? 

Could it have been those two glasses of wine? I considered it. After all this was alcohol and I usually didn't drink much so was wine the culprit? Could wine have that affect on joints? 

Now, at 65, I know my body is a lot different than it was at 25 but my joints were on fire!

Fast forward to this past weekend. I try wine again. But this time the wine is from Italy. Two glasses. Next day; No joint pain, no headaches. Next night I have two more glasses. (Had to finish the bottle, right?) Following day still no pain, no headache. 

A while ago someone told me they only drink wine from Italy because American wines give them hangovers. I never really gave her comments a second thought, but now I have to wonder what's in American wine? Or is there a magic something in Italian wine? 

Who knows? 

Maybe next weekend I'll pick up an bottle of Italian wine and give this experiment another test. 

Anyone else try this? What's your wine of choice? 

Social Security Applied! Now what?

 I applied for Social Security about a week ago.  Bit the bullet and filled out that application. Some of the questions I did find confusing and wanted to make sure what I put down was the truth so there were no hold ups.  

They do have little info buttons near each question that let you read a little more so you can give a good answer. That helps. 

You can also check your status by logging back in.  

I just did that and it says it's in like step two for checking my application. It also said it could take 2 to 4 weeks for processing. 

It's only been a week but when someone/thing tells me there's a way to check, I mean, how could I resist logging back in?  

All in all the process was pretty easy, but when you're ready to apply find a quiet space and take your time filling out the application.  

Are you ready to collect?  How did you make that decision? 

Staying Safe & Positive with Another Virus Scare

 Here we go again!

Is it not hard enough being in our 60's without life threatening viruses? Including business threatening viruses. 

Yes, no matter how you view it, this virus has killed more businesses than at any other time in history. (except maybe the great depression) At lease now our government is working to help people. If only everyone would get on board. 

Our business is suffering. We have to have people signing up and coming in or forget it, we're done. 

We're doing the 6 ft thing still which cuts down on the amount of people we can serve and beyond that there are too many who are just afraid to get into a place where people congregate. I've done more wash for aprons and towels then I'd ever want to think about. We bleach everything every night. 

If you walk past someone who reeks of disinfectant, it might be me :) 

So, if this business is suffering I can get a job! Where? At 64? Just look at my resume and you can probably guess my age. I have tons of office experience so the work is no problem but getting someone to trust that? 

We really are fighting for our business. It's a labor of love and I will definitely cry if we go under. I think the only way to beat the virus is through vaccination. I think the only way to protect those who cannot take the vaccination is to get ourselves vaccinated. With mixed messages coming from those in government I fear most good people are really just at a loss of which way is the best way. 

For now we're wearing masks, been vaxxed and boosted, and do our best to keep things clean. 

Stay safe out there.  There is a light at the end of this Covid tunnel and I believe we are almost there. 

What came after the pandemic of 1918?  The ROARING TWENTIES!  Soon it our country will come ROARING back and all will get back to a better normal. 

 

The Social Security Pathway

 Making the decision to turn on your social security is a big thing.  It's all about crunching numbers and figuring out where you are now and what you'll need in the future. 

The future? How can I know what to expect 5 or 10 or 20 years from now? Do I look like a psychic? 

So, if my full retirement age is 65 + 6 months I get a certain amount. You can go to the Social Security website and enter your info and they'll let you know what you could get now and that higher amount you could get if you wait.  

One of the issues I kind of struggle with is that yes, you'll get more money later each month if you wait.  If you take it now your check is less but the total amount will be a bigger total amount? 

I've been trying to crunch the numbers and I'm not really a math wiz. 

If your starting number now is like 1000 a month. Age 64.

Waiting until age 65 and your number is 1200 a month. 

12 months of $1000 = $12,000? 

So at what point when collecting the full amount of $1200 how many months would it take to make up the $12,000? 

Since the difference is $200. Would it be 60 months? Is that 5 years to break even? 

I guess it comes down to if that $200 will really be a deal breaker in the future? Now we come back to - are we psychic?  Where will we be in 5 years? In one year? 

Have you made this decision? Which way did you decide to go? 

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? 

Scary side of Business in Covid-land

Starting a business at age 60 is risky but what the heck! Let's go for it....
No joke, it was a struggle. Slow slow start, working to bring people in and have happy customers at our little art studio. Very slow take off, barely to cruise... and then...

COVID-19 smacks us right between the eyes. Closed down for 2 full months. No money in and still money goes out to maintain our space. Our savings is draining away. We are constantly asking if we should throw in the towel or keep fighting. There are no answers. Covid-land doesn't let us see through to the other side.  It's not like a hurricane where you take the hit, clean it up and move on. Some say this could last another year. Can we?

So, how to keep from spiraling down into a deep funk? I concentrate on the things I can control.
We're open again but business is super slow. We are not making our rent. We applied for a grant and got it. Okay, this month we're paying rent. Worry about next month then. I often go from freaking out, to crying, to anger. When I walk the dog I talk to myself. It helps me work through the myriad of feelings coursing through me every day. Then I recite a mantra of wishes but I speak as if they're all ready here. I learned that from the Law of Attraction. It's part of my plan to retain my sanity during crazyland.

In the mean time we're trying to come up with ways our customers can get the same great experience we offer in our art studio at home. Don't want to risk going out? Let me see what I can do for you. (and make $$ to pay the bills)

It's a daily struggle. When I'm ready to splash down into a puddle of misery I stop and think, "What else is out there? What else can I do to bring $$ in?"

Luckily I know a great group of business owners who brainstorm together. Are all our ideas great? No, but some have possibilities. Success will come. I will it to happen.  We all know, Success comes but it has to find you working.

I think of that fish, Dori; Keep on Swimming, Keep on Swimming....

Aging & Changes over 60

Some days I forget how old I am.
Other days it's the little things that hit back to remind me. Some small like that bright white hair in my normally brown eyebrows. Other's are bigger like the creeping arthritis I know is hitting the joints in my hands.

When I first started seeing the little white hairs replacing brown ones in my eye brows I just plucked them out. Bye, bye, all gone!  However I reached the point where it's either live with those pesky little white hairs or have a big bald line where my eye brows used to be. (Insert sigh of resignation here)

I've seen the older people with the enlarged knuckles. Their joints are stiffer, swollen. I'm not there yet but that little pinky on my right hand seems to have stiffened up a bit. Maybe the joint is a bit larger? Ugh!

So, I take my vitamins, walk the dog and think I need to put some weight lifting on my itinerary. They say lifting weights keeps the bones strong and makes you safer from injury.

I tore my rotator cuff years ago and met this little old doctor who treated my after care. He said to make sure to take calcium. He had fallen on an icy step and went down hard. He said the only reason he didn't break anything, as old an as frail as he was- he should have, was because he took calcium every day.

I take B12, too. B12 rules the nervous system and that affects everything in the body. Add D to that because blood work says I'm deficient and I'm rounding out my vitamins with something called Hair, Skin & Nails.

Getting old doesn't mean we no longer pursue health as vapidly as we did in our 20's. I think sometimes we forget to keep all these healthy habits in the front of our aging toolbox. 

Sixty the New Forty?

Could sixty be the new forty? Are people more in-sync with a healthier lifestyle that they eat better, stay active, and get medical care? Could be.

Turn on any morning talk show and half the time you find some doctor talking about the best way to do things. Eat your veggies, walk, drink water. All of this wasn't on our parent's radar when they hit sixty. The information highway has brought this info to us in a constant stream. TV, radio, and of course the computers. (Which are now inside our phones.)

So, yes. Sixty could be the new forty.

Sure I feel a little stiffer in my joints. I've got arthritis in my neck and shoulder from a car accident, and that extra weight doesn't seem as easy to lose as it used to be. But I can still walk a mile, lift weights and work. I think back to my mom at this age and she was already disabled and collecting disability. She had hip and artery problems which I think now were misdiagnosed.  Something we'll never know for sure. She hadn't been working for a few years by this age.

I see friends my own age that are in pretty good shape, too. Some have bigger health challenges but the information that's out there is helping them. They have more places to turn to than just their doctor. They were exposed to a time when new discoveries in medicine surprised us all. Vitamins, vaccines, food values, healthier sweeteners, the list goes on.

So someone tell me, how do we make Seventy be the new forty?

If I'm 60, why don't I feel old?

I remember my mom at 60. She was overweight, grey and only went out to go to senior meetings. I'm not sure what they did at these meetings but I think it was maybe card games and snacks. Now, I'm 60 and although I need to lose about 30 lbs, I'm not very grey and do more. Is 60 really the new 40? Am I really in better health than she was at this point?

Mom always had a bad hip problem, but as young as I was, I don't know exactly what caused it. When I started having hip problems I did more stretches and exercises and when it does act up, I can usually "fix" it. Sometimes I wish I could go back and help her with her health problems with the science that exists now. It would have saved her a lot of pain and maybe given her a longer life. She passed at 65 from complications of a heart attack. She had type 2 diabetes which made her recovery more difficult. I think during my mother's time it was believed you didn't move forward after a certain age. You hit your sixties and it was all down hill from there. That believe was instilled by society and opinions of others. It was just the way it was. You'll go grey, get arthritis, just sit down and wait for it.

So, I'm 60 and determined to be in better health from here on in. I've joined Weight Watchers (for the 3rd or 5th time?) and decided it's way past time I took control.
Science tells us that weight training and cardio can keep you in much better health in your sixties and even seventies. Here are a few examples;

Eighty year old body builders;
Ernestine Shepherd

Dr. Jeffrey Life

Check out this guy's website. It's informative and inspiring!




So maybe age is just a number, 60 is the new 40, and we've got more mountains to climb and there are victories to be had. Let's go get 'em!

Blame it on the Couch

It's so easy to blame all the creaks and pain on getting old, but in examining my own pains I'm thinking the couch is more to blame.

Here on my big brown couch I sip coffee, write blogs and stories while the TV drones on in the background. It's a comfy place with two dogs curled up next to me and a wood stove over in the corner. (Getting chilly here in the northeast so we're ready to fire that sucker up!) Is there any better place than this big comfy couch?

Wait...is it getting harder to get up off this big comfy couch? Did my knee just creak? Back a little stiff? eh? Must be getting old, right? Or maybe it's the "time" on the couch and lack of time on the treadmill?

I keep making that pledge to do the treadmill in the morning or hit that weight bench I needed to buy, but then i come to the couch for just a few minutes....

Well, you know the rest.

Found this awesomely silly deck of
inspiration cards on Amazon. 

I go on Pinterest and find all the exercise pins for inspiration. It's so inspiring I stay on Pinterest until it's time to get ready for work and never actually get to that exercise thing.

What inspires you to get off the couch? Where do you find that mojo motivation?

Treadmills and Road Blocks

A long road trip & moving furniture equals back ache. Yikes!

For a week my back has been twisted muscles sending waves of pain every time I lifted, turned or bent over.  All just in time for the treadmill I bought last week and the plan I have for taking off some pounds. (30 or 40 of the little buggers)

Now I have to start. This week of heating pads and Icy Hot are wearing on me, frustrating me, and its time for a change. Ten minutes on the treadmill won't hurt, right? It might even help.

Sometimes I forget my age, I forge ahead and just do things. Get things done and never look back. Other times it weighs on me. It's like a slap down; "Oh no, you're getting older every day! Don't forget that!"

I'm watching Grace and Frankie. A Netflix original about two women who find out their husbands have been having an affair with each other. Now there two older women (Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) need to figure out their new lives as they watch their husbands go off and marry each other.  Together Grace and Frankie show everything can be possible in spite of their ages. They are true to their personal styles and go forth and conquer.

I think this reminds me that I need to figure out that personal style thing. Somewhere between getting married young, raising kids, gaining weight, and working I lost that personal style thing. I dress in what fits and what's comfortable.

So, how does one find their personal style after all these years?

Exercising at 50 or 60?

Does exercise get scarier when we get older? Maybe, to some.
Then I see an older man running past me as I walk the neighborhood. He looks great, runs at a good pace, and, I imagine, has no fear of pushing his body.

The thought of working up to a run kind of scares me since I haven't run since I was in my 20's.

There's a program called Couch to 5K that combines walking and running/jogging to get a person ready to run a full 5K. Which I think is 2 or 3 miles? Yesterday I walked 2 miles through, up and around my neighborhood. Stupid me, I did it at 1 o'clock in the afternoon during the hottest part of the day. I really can't take the heat when I'm sitting still so by the time I got home I was kind of dizzy. But I did it! (There's a phone ap called Map My Walk that will track it for you.)

Today calls for rain so unless there's a break in the rain, I might just hit the weights today. I was reading Body for Life by Bill Phillips and one of the success stories was an older woman, 60+, who did the program. They showed her standing there in a bikini with an amazingly buff body. Made me think it was possible. A quick internet search found Bonnie Ave, champion body builder at age 60! So I believe there is hope.
Not sure if I'm ever going Couch to 5K but I am going to get off this couch.
Anyone else start an exercise program after 50? What's your story?
Come on! I need some inspiration!