I am 3 years into my 50^th now and it has been an adventure. In my 40^th I thought my life was on a great track and that I was set-up well for all the years to come. But then the 50^th hit and it all changed. I had heard about midlife crisis and never understood why people experienced it. This is the kind of ignorance I had all the way up to my 50^th. For example I couldn’t see why people in their 50^th all of a sudden don’t wear bikinis any longer or they completely discard of tank tops and short sleeve t-shirts to only wear long sleeve clothing. My aunt was the first person I met who, when she hit her 50’s, insistent that her arms did no longer have the look that they deserved to be displayed in public. I couldn’t imagine what could be so ugly about the arms that they no longer deserved to be seen but I could never find out because I couldn’t see them any longer. Pretty much up to my 50^th I had absolutely no sense for what it means when your body starts changing and you feel like you have no control over it.

Everything changes so quickly and so irreversibly that it can scare the hell out of you. All the feelings of being set-up well in my 40^th went right out of the window when I started to gain weight and even when I lowered my daily calories I kept gaining it. When my doctor started to look at my annual check-up for the signs of loss in bone density, cancer and high cholesterol and blood pressure and anything that was only off a little bit was now a sign of a fatal disease. High blood pressure was now the sign for a future stroke, an extra dense area in my breast on my mammogram was the sign of breast cancer and I would play with my life if I wouldn’t get a biopsy. His communication to me was clear ‘You are now in your 50^th and your final days are numbered and high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cancer will be part of it.’ Now I understand, just going to the doctor can be enough reason to be in a mid-life crisis in your 50^th. The outlook they have for you is depressing.

So here is the good news about being in my 50^th: I get to stand out from the crowd. I’ve been around long enough to kind of know what is bullshit and what is real and I can make my own choices. I no longer have to follow along with the simple way of life and what society has laid out for me.

When my doctor told me I needed to have a biopsy for a 2 mm high density area in my breast, I did a lot of research and didn’t just go with it. I felt it was a too aggressive approach getting my breast cut open and having a piece of metal put in to mark a spot that they just couldn’t evaluate in the mammogram and ultra sound because it was too dense. I decided to wait for 6 months, get another ultra sound and if something really dangerous like cancer was going on in that area I would see it immediately. I personally don’t feel it but it’s always good to know for sure. I started to do some research around hormones and worked on balancing them and changed not my calorie intake but the quality of foods I eat and started to lose weight pretty much immediately.

It’s glorious when you can beat the statistics and you feel really good when you should be in the middle of your midlife crisis. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you feel great physically when you should be depressed about the unavoidable decaying of yourself. It’s one of the best feelings when you go a different way.

I am going to go to Costa Rica this summer and it’s going to be hot there and I will take the risk of displaying my entire body in a bikini. I will enjoy looking at my curves and body when I am walking along the beach and when I am sun bathing next to the pool. I can’t wait. It will feel great.

I love my life. It feels great. I know I wouldn’t have it if it weren’t for the constant inspiration of Bernadeane and Jim Strole. They stimulate me every day with living a life that is going up and up and up in the most phenomenal way. Bernie has been around for well over 70 years and Jim for well over 60 years and I see them doing better physically now than ever. I know I will be with them when they are in their hundreds and they will be better then compared to now. What inspires me most is how real they are with what’s going on with them. They are real with their emotions, with the test results they receive from doctors and most of all with how they feel their own bodies and they take action to build themselves better all the time. I’ve learned a lot from them. They teach something no one teaches. They teach a way of life that has no end and it’s so much fun and joy to live that way. I only recommend it.