59 and Feeling Fine

WOW! I am entering the final year of my 50s. I am so thankful to be alive!

I spent my 58th birthday in a “boot” as I recovered from foot surgery. I had previously taken a very serious fall down a mountain while hiking and after that fall, I decided to get my foot taken care of. AND I wanted to rest. I distinctly remember that. I had been going hard with fitness and journaling and counting calories for 3 solid years and I was tired. My body was tired, my mind was tired and I thought if I was in a boot, I’d be forced to rest. (Someone should have told me 2020 was coming. lol)

I never gave up on my goals and I never will because I intend to be around for many more years and I want to feel well in those years, but that break helped me not be so overly concerned with the numbers; it taught me to allow myself some grace.

2020 was going to be a big travel year for our family. We had been saving mileage points for 2 years so that our family of 5 could go to Panama for my daughter’s friends wedding in the summer of 2020. I also had a visit planned to my moms, a visit planned to my husband’s family and a visit to Oregon to learn some more from my Italian friends/relatives. In fact, we were in Phoenix for a NASCAR race and then we visited the Grand Canyon the weekend before COVID shut our state and country down.

There it was! A blessing in disguise. Time to rest. Time to be thankful for what I have right here at home. From day one of the shut down I started setting up my home gym. I had a lot of equipment and I bought a couple of new items. My trainer trained me via FaceTime and is still doing so. Pools closed – but I was able to hike because we have beauty all around us here in Grand Junction, CO. My son came home from college and did his studies on line at home and I got to have him home with us for 2 1/2 months. Our daughter came home for the whole month of September because she too could do her schoolwork at home online. We may not have traveled like we had planned but we have enjoyed one another immensely.

I was also thankful for the time I had put into my spiritual walk with God and my time I put into overcoming anxiety. It made me much more able to handle the uncertainty of our times. I truly felt the verse/saying “Perhaps you were made for such a time as this.”

For those of you who have been following me for awhile, you know my birthdays are great “markers” for me of LIFE and I am truly thankful to Ryan and Mana for being in the right place at the right time to teach me how to change my life and live. Those of you who are new, this post sums it up pretty well. I wrote that 10 months after my life began to change. I have written one a year on my birthday, if you want to check back through this blog. 2017, 2018, and 2019 (a video post).

My physical health has had its ups and downs this year. Remember me wanting the foot surgery so my body could rest? Well my hands had been swollen and hurting for a few years now. I was limited on weight training and I would have good days and bad days. I ate anti-inflammatory, I moved every day, I took Turmeric. But one day in August 2020 I woke up with extreme pain and turns out that’s what carpal tunnel feels like. Ugh. My rheumatologist had moved away and I had an appointment with the new rheumatologist the third week of September. I LOVED her. She listened when I talked and that was huge. She offered me a cortisone shot in my hand. I had never had a cortisone shot, but at that point, I was willing to try. That made a huge difference and I can say I’m 59 and feeling fine today.

I’m very thankful for all my readers, followers and Bible app plan friends. You all inspire me and make my heart full. If you are thinking that you are too old to make a change, you are never too old. NEVER. Take it one day at a time, one step at a time, and soon one year later you can’t believe how far you have come. I know because that is me.