“The Secret to a Realignment”
“The Secret to a Realignment”
The realignment of my body starts to take place slowly and deliberately. I workout, walk, eat healthy, and I am learning to meditate. I do all this to constantly stay in a state of wellness. My body keeps rebelling, but I am fighting back. I notice, as a woman, I have evolved into whatever I need to be. In the course of a day I can be a business woman giving a presentation, a caterer as I take lunch orders and deliver, then a maid as I walk in the door to cook, clean, and feed the dog. Finally I am a loving mother and wife as I listen to everyone and solve all the problems of the world all in one day. I don’t always get to choose what I want to be.
Life has a way of bringing me through lush green valleys and rugged mountaintops where I have adapted. The shifts allow me to start a new life again almost everyday. I have, however, noticed a metamorphosis that occurs within me every 8 to 10 years. At eight years old I am full of innocent wonder and glitter. Barbies, bikes with streamers, and reading Nancy Drew are part of my world. At sixteen I am full of wild wonder and either individualism or conformism. It is a time of noticing boys, freedom to drive, and becoming my own person and not always following the crowd. Just when I hit twenty-four years old, I begin to see the world so open with possibilities and responsibilities. For me, I marry and learn what it takes to be a homeowner. Thirty-two years brings a mark of maturity to my resume, which includes a promotion or children. My promotion is my two daughters who suck the life out of me, and leave me exhausted but happy. Finally I reach forty, which frees me to say what the hell. The kids are older. I don’t need a babysitter and I re-enter my career because I can finally be me. Now at fifty years of age I am brought to a turning point again. Where am I headed?
Being laid off from my job was terrible, but it has brought with it a new direction of thought. It has brought a reassessment of all that is important to me. This time period also brings the question of why is my body doing that? It takes longer to fight the effects of gravity. I have to work smarter than my mind and body, but sometimes it does what it wants without me being involved. I say hello to the bathroom at 3am and then as I cross back to my bed I think- I need to buy eggs, write a check, and call a friend tomorrow. Go to sleep, my body begs my brain.
I ask my mother what will sixty and seventy years bring to me? She tells me that at sixty I will want to just hold on. I will want to hold on to my health, my finances, my youth, and my social life. She tells me many friends will move on. In her case, she loses a loved one, my Dad. However, she says that it will also be a rebirth if I get to have grandchildren because I will live my life again through their eyes. When she tells me about being seventy, I become very depressed and saddened. She says seventy brings pain. She explains that I will notice many limitations physically, mentally, and financially. She wonders why do the beauty magazines stop writing tips for women in their seventies? “They just stop acknowledging us after seventy,” she says sadly. If you saw my mom, you would not think she was seventy-three years old. She looks like my sister. This is good for her, but not so good for me. I just hope I get to carry that youthful gene forward. I ask her what she thinks eighty will be like and she says, “What the hell, bring it on.”
So as I sit here at this transformational age, I get up to stretch my back, shoulder, and that darn foot. I put a cup of tea on the stove because I did not sleep well last night and I need some caffeine. I glance at the beauty magazine in front of me to catch the headline “Feel Better in 7 Days”. Is seven days all that it will take? “5 Amazing Anti-aging Beauty Ingredients” glares the next line. Will I only need five? I want to embrace this state of flux and bring myself to steadiness and stability. So I do what I need to do. 
The secret is to say what the hell! I call my friend to meet me for a glass of wine tonight, and then I phone my physical therapist and chiropractor to get my body back into realignment.
Best,
Lori