Saturday, August 22, 2009

Go Ahead, Let Your Hair Down

I read somewhere on the net today that middle-aged women experience more stress and are less likely to be happy. Is that true?? Gosh, that makes me a little depressed just thinking about it. Middle-aged, that sounds so old. Is 47 old? Don't answer that. I think I'd rather be called, "A Woman of a Certain Age". I read that somewhere too, and yes, that sounds better.

I will admit that in my own recent years I seem to
have forgotten how to play, how to let loose and let my hair down. Sure, in the comfort of my home I let loose and dance crazily to songs on the radio when no one is watching, and that in itself feels pretty great, but staying in my comfort zone has been my way of life for too long. I need some heart-pumping excitement every now and again. How else does one know they are alive if they don't experienc
e such things, at least occasionally? My goal from now on is to experience, at least once a week, something that moves me in such a way that I can't contain the laughter (like when I was a girl), or at least something that makes me smile as wide as my face will allow.

Any ideas? Keep them clean please (lol) and nothing that would keep me in the house- like coin and stamp collecting or crocheting. I was thinking maybe biking, joining a gym, taking a walk on the beach, going on a day trip with my camera and taking photos of any and everything I see...


Should I keep you posted? I say this as if I have a lot of readers (lol), but I do have a few... and I thank you.


*The above photos were taken last November when my kids took me to the beach and we rented bikes and rode in the sand. It was cold but warmed up pretty quickly... and it was exhilarating. Has it been that long since I've had fun?


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5 comments:

Joey said...

Here's and idea from the movie Garden State, which is great. Make a noise, just a wierd noise, that nobody in history has ever made, so that if anything you can know that at least for that one moment you did something completly original and completly yourself.

Or when i'm home alone i just lie on the floor sometimes. and no i'm not high when i do it, i don't even do drugs.

I'm not a fan of gyms, i'm a traditionalist, i don't use machines.

Hanging out by creeks can be inspiring. I like them.

Roamwithaview said...

I agree with Joey. Gyms only make you feel more self conscience and worrying all the time about what you look like while working out rather than concentrating on getting the most out of the workout. Gyms are for posers. lol...sorry, but they are, eh...

Its just been my train of thought as I have matured over the years is that labeling ones self and setting ones self into a category like "middle aged" means one is setting one self into a certain category and therefore limiting themselves by the limits their mind has created by the self imposed category in which they find they want to classify themselves as. Does that make sense?

For instance...a man wants to be a racecar driver and always refers to him as that..."Hi, my name is Dutch...and I race cars." So, he drives cars fast on and off the track. Drives so fast he forgets to smell or see the roses. Sometimes he forgets there are other things out there than just driving fast, ya know?

I am sure people can give you all sorts of ideas about how to let your "hair down" but in the end, it is your hair, and you wear it how you feel comfortable wearing it. That is my advice. I could tell you to take up knitting or skydiving, but its all not up to me. Its what you feel comfortable doing that makes you feel how you say you want to feel in your blog..."like when I was a girl". If you want to wear your hair up, wear it up...if you want to wear it down...wear it down.

Anyway, sorry I couldnt give you something to do. But I did enjoy the read, it made me smile.

Thank you for sharing.

4evernite said...

Joey, I may be crazy but I am going to try your first suggestion. I'll try anything once. Within reason. lol. Wish I had a creek close by.

Roam, I don't really look at middle-age as a label, just a fact... but I do get your point. Thanks.

I agree with you both about the gym. I've been a couple of times and didn't really enjoy it.

Thanks for the comments :-)

Kerree said...

Of course we're not as happy. We're older and wiser and with wisdom comes the knowledge that some parts of life really really suck. I am having a harder time coming to terms with the injustices of this world as I get older. I just followed a link from a blog that went to the trial of one of the accused in the Chris Newsome/Channon Christian case (have you heard about it?) I hadn't heard of it before. We get a lot of American news here but of course we just don't have the time to cover everything that happens over there. I was so appalled by the whole situation. And deeply upset even though I didn't even know these people. I have an active imagination and I died a little inside when I read about what they went through. Sometimes its not so great to be so informed.
As for your suggestion request I just read another blog and she had started hip hop classes after seeing Step Up 2 the Streets. It looked like so much fun and I remembered how much I used to enjoy dancing until I somehow become middle aged and cocooned in my house for some unknown reason. Maybe you should try that. It would be fun, you'd get some exercise, meet some people and it would definitely give you something to blog about. :)

4evernite said...

Thanks Kerree, I'll keep that hip-hop idea in mind. It definitely WOULD give me something to blog about wouldn't it? lol. I hadn't heard of that story until now. It really was sad to read/think about.