Well, another birthday is almost upon me. I always take stock in my life around this time of year: where I've been, how I've matured, things I should work on, what kind of shape am I in (mentally, emotionally, physically etc) and how my career / future is looking.
This year is quite different than those of the past. Everything in my life is absolutely golden. I'm mentally and emotionally solid - feeling great and quite happy with where I am, I'm in the best physical shape I've ever been, my career is solid and stable along with extremely fulfilling. I've learned from a number of big previous mistakes and navigated through a few options where I *could* have made them again but didn't due to the wisdom I have gained from the past failures. All in all, I'm feeling like the most complete person I've ever been - - and that almost scares the hell out of me... Ha! It's almost too perfect, if there is such a thing.
I joined a gym a couple months ago. Started with nothing but cardio for the first month as I needed to make sure my heart and muscles were ready for a bit of muscle building. Signed up with a personal trainer (that is a professional bodybuilder, mind you) and let me say this: she's a complete rock star. Words cannot describe just how much I respect and admire her. She's been through the ringer and made it through with a solid outlook on life and a number of trophies for best physique and overall performance. Definitely the right choice for me. She totally kicks my ass and motivates me, but knows my limits and gets me right to the edge without damage or too much soreness. The results are already visible and I'm thrilled. Those of you that are into fitness know it's a bit hard to add muscle after 40. I'm obviously very late to this party, but I'm glad to finally be here.
It's funny: I went from people telling me that I'm really large and they're concerned for my health to "wow, you're really skinny now. You're done losing, right?" or my favorite "Do you have cancer?". <facepalm> One of the guys in my motorcycle club made a comment that really bugged me (wasn't meant in a mean way - he's a good guy). I'm the Safety Officer and also the Sgt. At Arms in the club and he said he couldn't take me seriously as Sgt. At Arms (implying that I'm too skinny to "keep the peace"). So aside from wanting better overall health, that was another reason for the gym membership.
Since I'm on the topic of body changes, I might as well also share the other news I'm really excited about. I'm finally going to fix my crooked teeth. I have a friend that went with SmileDirectClub for invisible alignment trays to fix a few teeth. I had braces when I was in my mid-teens but didn't do much of what I was supposed to, so they ended up taking them off early and never did a fiber-release or gave me retainers. My two front upper teeth went back to being "buck" which has always bugged the shit out of me and has been on the "someday I'll fix them when I can afford it" list. Anyway, that's next on the list! Mold kit has been shipped and I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery to get this going.
Oh! I went to Kauai for 12 days last month and finally got to do something I've never been able to before due to being too heavy: zip lining! What an incredible adventure. The weather was beautiful there and I had plenty of time to see the entire island and couple of times. I'll add a few pics at the bottom of the post.
As we move into the Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa holiday season, I hope that all of you get to spend time with your loved ones and truly enjoy each other's company. To me, that's what these times are all about and I intend to make the most of it. To those of you that have lost family, I hope you're able to enjoy the memories of time spent with them in the past and find some peace in their passing.
Wishing all of you lots of love and happiness.
