Seeing is Not Always Believing

We're all well aware of how things change. Sometimes the changes are subtle enough for us not to take much notice. Sometimes they hit us suddenly like an unexpected storm with no warning. And, sometimes it's just a reminder of how we've moved through time.

That's how I felt when I viewed the photo of myself on this blog. "Wow, I really looked like THAT?" I thought, somewhat incredulously. "How long ago was the photo taken?" I knew my grandson had taken it when he was pretty young at a Christmas gathering in our home, but when was it?

Even the professional photo I have on the back of my book "Fifty and Beyond; New Beginnings in Health and Well Being" seems a little closer to how I look now or at least more of a bridge between the blog photo and what I see in the mirror.

For years, through writing and speaking, I've been encouraging people to not only accept themselves as they are, but to celebrate it. But, I admit it, it can be a jolt! One of the nicest aspects of the ways in which our bodies (including our face) change over time, is that it's so subtle, as if Mother Nature is breaking us in gently.

Once I got over the initial shock at the difference between now and then I'm aware, once again, of how much I have to be grateful for. Obviously the gratitude that I feel covers so many more important things which I'll get to in another blog bit. But this specific little bit of gratitude is that, in spite of the silver now in that dark head of hair, the face that well, frankly, just looks more aged, I feel great.

I'm still a small person, eating healthily, exercising pretty regularly and paying attention to my physical well being because I know how important it is to do everything I can to insure optimum health. No one, of course, has any guarantees but it certainly helps to do your own part in protecting the vital integrity of this blessed body we dwell in.

Well, that's two subjects for further blog bits, gratitude and integrity. Now, if I can just remember them the next time we get together.......

Susanna Starr, author,
Fifty and Beyond: New Beginnings in Health and Well-Being