Mid-life Princess

Everyone’s body is different, as every soul is unique. There is not a generic plan that is right for all.  Look at the many diet and fitness plans out there, not to mention the ones that line my own bookshelf getting dusty.  We’re all different models and have different owner’s manuals. Ultimately I think I have to follow the owner’s manual laid out in my heart.  My husband and I have “Follow Your Heart” engraved on the inside of our rings.  Losing pounds is just a small part of it, a fringe benefit of following a more spiritual, natural and balanced lifestyle.

I met my husband a little over seven years ago.  We started our courtship with hiking to a large extent.  It was something I wanted to do, but hadn’t done.  It was one of those mid-life changes.  I was nearing 50 at the time.  My husband is eight years younger than me.  Very early in our marriage a friend called telling me that her mother saw our marriage license listing in the newspaper, and told me that her mother exclaimed, “She’s eight years older than him!”  Chris was close by and I repeated this to him, to which he replied, loud enough for her to hear, “What, you’re eight years older than me?”  We live in a small town.  That certainly made the rounds.  I have somewhat of a competitive nature, mostly with myself, so maybe part of it was to keep up with my younger husband.

On one of our first hikes together we did what was considered an easy 7-mile hike.  It was rated as easy considering most was level ground with one exception – there was a tremendously long killer hill.  A bench was placed mid-way up.  I got so out of breath and so nauseated that I sat on that bench for quite a while.  But I kept hiking.  I would go to the local state park during the day and hike what was rated a little more difficult hiking 3.5 miles, working my way up to 5 miles eventually.  

We live on a farm, 60% of it being wooded area.  Not wanting to drive to the state park everyday, I started going out in my own woods, taking a rake, and started to design my own trail.  On the weekends my husband went out with me with a shovel and chain saw, helping to clear the way.  We didn’t cut down any large trees in making the path.  We just managed fallen logs and briar bushes already there; building the path in a way we felt was the most environmentally friendly.  Deer paths plus certain landscape features paved the way.  The trail is still a work in progress.
I also during this time began with a fast and started eating healthier, more organically natural foods.  I still need improvement in that area.  I began a practice of yoga, asanas and meditation. I would move a lot of rock during the day making garden areas.  That was my weight lifting.  Pounds fell off naturally.  I started looking good in clothes again.  My husband and I went on that same hike with the long torturous hill.  This time it was he who got out of breath and had to sit on the bench.  I was perfectly fine.

My competitive nature took precedence.  I overdid it messing up ligaments in my foot.  Really I never established a balance.  I kept going when in pain, until one morning I got out of bed literally falling on the floor because of the foot pain.  I was then on crutches and a cane temporarily to keep the weight off my foot.  What resulted was a more sedentary life style and falling into my old sluggish habits such as not eating as well with more non-exercise time on my hands.  I made excuses not to walk even a little. I would skip yoga. Almost overnight my closet went from 4’s

and 6’s to 10’s and mostly 12’s.

I’m now 55, which numerologically translates to a new beginning, a new beginning in which I’m more in touch with my own body, soul and spirit and what they (“I”) need in order to evolve.  On one of our first dates we watched “Shrek.”  As we watched my husband noticed tears falling down my face and said what’s wrong.  I said I’m like the fat Princess Fiona and you are a handsome prince.  He so lovingly said, “You’re my princess.”

It’s a new beginning to be a mid-life princess, or maybe just a princess, as hopefully even the label of mid-life falls away.  Maybe one day as we find our own spiritual balance all the labels will fall off – race, fat, skinny, rich, poor, etc.

Jerri (Chris is my husband)