Blog
SELF ESTEEM
Society these days is focussed on the young and older people can be forgiven for feeling they have nothing to offer to today’s world but nothing could be further from the truth. Older people might not have a twitter account or be on face book or be texting every two minutes or juggling a home, kids and a mortgage but they have a wealth of knowledge and know-how that has been picked up over many years.
It’s taken me 69 years to gather the wisdom I now possess and I look froward to gathering more and more wisdom as I age. Life isn’t over until it is over. We need to keep growing and striving when we’re older and we need to keep being excited by life and keep engaging in it. We older people can still amaze the world, can still be relevant and can still have a voice and be useful.
There are many ways we older people can contribute to today’s society. Obesity is raging among today’s youth. We can set a good example to the young by taking care of our health. We can do this by choosing to eat more healthy food like fruit and vegetables and by eating less processed food and by engaging in regular exercise.
The health of the young is becoming a serious problem. By choosing to have a healthy diet and by engaging in regular exercise we would not only be setting a good example to today’s youth we would also be more likely to keep our independence for longer. We would also avoid being a drain on the public health system and we would be more vibrant and energetic and be able to engage more fully in life.
Another way we can lead the way is by looking after our skin. It we look after our skin we will not only avoid many skin problems, we will also feel more attractive and look much younger than our years. This would not only enhance our self-esteem it would also present a more vibrant vision of older age to the young.
Another way we can contribute to today’s society is by using our talents and skills. We all have natural talents as well as skills we’ve developed over time. Sitting on our backsides moaning about the Youth, the government or our aches and pains is no way to feel useful or to develop a sense of self-worth. We need to find a way to use our talents and skills. To do this we need to expand our idea of what is possible and think outside the square! To be continued—-
SKIN CARE (Cont.)
Sometime later my partner also developed a skin condition and went to his doctor who also told him about the detrimental effect of soap on the body but this doctor had more to offer. He recommended using Sorbolene Cream with 10% glycerine in place of soap when washing hands or showering or taking a bath.
He further advised that when showering or bathing that you mix up a slurry containing one part Sorbolene Cream to three to four parts water and, after drying the body, spread this slurry all over the body and get dressed immediately with the slurry still wet.
This procedure is now a valued part of my armoury in looking after my skin. It took a bit of getting used to, that is putting clothes on while the body was wet but since I was eager to have nice skin I persevered and at 69 my skin is soft and smooth.
Although I’ve been told the slurry won’t stain any material other than silk I always put everyday clothes on my wet slurried body before dressing in fine fabrics.
I swear by Sorbolene Cream with 10% glycerine. Only last month a skin specialist said to me, “You don’t use soap.” “No”, I said, “Good,” she said and then she turned to her student who was present and said, “This lady really looks after her skin.”
As an aside, when you use Sorbolene Cream instead of soap you rarely need to use a deoderant.
SKIN CARE TIP NO. 2
There is another agent which can damage the skin, namely soap. I was in my 50’s before I discovered the ravaging nature of soap on the skin. I now use soap only on rare occasions. This might shock some who might wonder, “How could one be clean and not use soap?”
These days I use Sorbolene Cream as an alternative to soap. My journey to using Sorbolene Cream started some years ago when I developed an itchy, scabby rash on my torso and went to Sydney to consult a skin specialist. When I arrived at the skin specialist’s surgery the waiting room was full of patients, but surprisingly the patients were going in and coming out of the doctor’s consulting room quite quickly and so in no time at all it was my turn and in I went.
At the request of the skin specialist I bared my torso to reveal my sorry scabby state. He took one look at me and said casually, “All you need to do is to stop using soap.” I looked at him with surprise and he then said smiling, “You know the soap manufacturers have made me a millionaire.” Shocked though I was I immediately stopped using soap on every part of my body except my more private areas and my skin complaint disappeared almost overnight. Tune in next week for more on skin care.
SKIN CARE TIPS NO. 1
One can Live Young and not look young, but I think most of us would like to look young if we could and there’s nothing more important when it comes to looking young than having soft, line free skin. Sadly when I was younger I, like most of my cohort, spent quite a bit of time lying in the sun, sunbaking. A suntanned and bronzed look was considered healthy and attractive years ago.
In fact in the 1950’s and 60’s, the stereotype of the tanned, bronzed Aussie was almost an Australian icon, whereas the soft white English complexion was looked down upon, and so no-one back then aspired to soft white skin, more is the pity! I wish I’d known more about protecting my skin from the sun when I was younger. Back then I used to think sun screen was only needed when one ventured out in a bathing costume.
I was 41 years old before I learnt from a beautician about the need to wear sun screen every day and all year round, even during the winter months. Since learning this, that is exactly what I’ve done and thankfully my skin has escaped heavy lines. I now also use an umbrella with 50+ sun protection, when out in the sun.
However the sun is not the only culprit when it comes to damaging the skin. More on this next week!
VISUALISE-GET-EXCITED
Before you start your fitness campaign it is helpful to work out specifically what it is you want to achieve. Simply thinking, I’d like to lose some weight and feel better about myself, isn’t enough as it doesn’t give your mind clear direction, or anything for it to get excited about.
You need to give some time to thinking about how you would like to look and what weight and shape you’d like to be and then play with this idea. Imagine yourself being the size and shape you would like to be and picture yourself wearing the sort of clothes you would like to wear and sporting the hairstyle you would like to have and see yourself standing, walking and talking confidently and being everything you would like to be. Give your mind as much direction as possible.
If you have a clearly defined motivating vision of how you want to be, your mind will start bringing you the pathway to that vision and you will be more motivated to stay on track when temptation turns up to try and take you off track.
LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT
Over the years I’ve heard many retirees lament that they are no longer as good as they once were. This type of focus is very unhelpful. Focussing backwards is never good. You need to look forward! I believe that at every stage of life there are things to explore and achieve, adventures to be had and more and more to learn and to understand.
However it is common for retirees, often as soon as they retire, to get bombarded with requests from relations and friends to use their new found free time to do chores for them. There are many who think that when one retires one can mind grandchildren, fix fences, be a taxi service, cut lawns and so on. Many of my peers have experienced this. It takes courage to stand up to these sorts of requests and expectations.
As a retiree you have the freedom to build and live the life you want, but to build and live the life you want might mean standing up to the requests of others and scrutinising some your long held conditioned beliefs.
It will take courage and a positive mindset to live the life you want to live, but if you don’t build and live the life of your choice you will end up living a life a prescribed by others until the day you leave the planet.
A FOOD TIP FOR OLDER PEOPLE
If you are an older person you need to choose your food more wisely. I’ve heard many older people say, “I’m not eating as much as I did years ago and I’m still putting on weight.”
Eating less of what you have always eaten won’t do. You need to change WHAT you eat. As you get older you need to eat differently. You need to choose foods that add to the body’s strength, rather than its size and also food that helps the body to function. As we get older our ‘garbage disposal unit’ becomes less effective and our appetite lessens, so we need to make sure that what we do eat serves our bodies well.
My advice is to eat less biscuits, cakes, sweets and pasta and the like and more natural nude food. Also try to do without those little extras like mayonaise, sauces, gravies and dollops of butter on this and that. These seemingly insignificant little extras play a large role in gaining weight over time.
LIVE YOUNG
Far too many of us let our life spirit wither and die. We entered life eager to live it. Our minds were open to learn, love and grow in every way possible but somewhere aong the way a great many of us, sometimes at a relative young age, started closing our minds to what we couldn’t understand, closing our minds to new possibilities and a changing world. We became sedentary, sceptical, judgemental and critical. We stopped accepting challenges and settled into the relative predictability of everyday life and before we knew it, we awoke to find our bodies weak and sagging, our faces weinkled, our eyes lifeless and our spirit deadened.
This doesn not have to be. We can decide to Live Young. Living Young does not mean that the sands of time won’t take some toll, nor does it mean that Living Young is the same as being young. What it does mean, is that your life can be vital, exciting, adventurous, challenging and rewarding irrespective of age.
WHY FACIAL EXECISES?
I would not let one day go past without doing my facial exercises. Exercising the face daily keeps its form and flexibility and its muscles functioning and also avoids developing a set expression.
The muscles on the face, like the muscles on the body weaken and sag without exercise. When the muscles sag the face droops and the form of the face is lost. Many people say, “Why should I worry about exercising my face. I can have a face lift.” I’ve no argument with face-lifts but what face-lifts can’t do, without enormous expense, is reconstruct the form of the face. If you regularly exercise your facial muscles you’ll keep them strong and the form of your face in-tact.
If the muscles on your face have been kept strong through regular exercise, the form of the face will still be present at the time of the face-lift and the face-lift can realise a great result. If on the other hand the facial muscles have sagged and the form of the face has been lost, the result of a face-lift can be a tight skinned hollow and distorted look, often leaving one less attractive or in some cases hideous.
Without regular exercise, the muscles on the face not only sag, they become weak and don’t function at all well. I’ve done facial exercise sessions with women who can no longer wink because the muscles controlling their eyelids have become too weak to function.
I’ve also noticed in facial exercise sessions that some participants’ facial muscles have become so inflexible they can hardly move their face in one or more directions. The mesage is clear, in the case of the face, you either move it or lose it!
ROMANCE IS AGELESS
Some say that romance is only for the young but I believe Cupid is always ready with his bow and arrow to strike at any age.
I remember feeling the flutters of the heart at the tender age of seven. The boy in question was the butcher’s son. I’m sure most people would’ve had a crush on someone at school.
I believe boy, girl feelings and flutters are a part of our lives for as long as we live, irrespective of age. To illustrate my point, my three year old grand-daughter had a crush on Michael Clark, the Australian cricket captain. When she told her mother she loved Michael Clark, her mother asked “Would you like to marry Michael Clark?” After pondering this question for a few seconds the three year old replied, “mummy I can’t marry Michael Clark.” ” Why?” asked her mother. “Well” she said, “I don’t have a wedding dress.”
Now at the other end of the age range, some time ago I caught up with my 81 year-old widower uncle. I was surprised to see this elderly uncle looking so fit, tanned and happy. He looked great. It turned out that at age 77 he met a lady aged 73 and they had been together for four years. I listened to him as he bubbled forth with joy about his new relationship and about how wonderful everything was in his life.
But if you think 81+ is the age limit to romantic interest, let me tell you of another gentleman who was aged 101. It was this man’s 101st birthday and he was seated next to me in the corner of a room. While we were speaking he turned his head and happened to see two women about 75+ coming through the door. Straight away and with a great deal of interest and a certain spark he asked, “Who are those two GIRLS who just came in?”
You had to be there of course but I can tell you that grandpa was more than just a little interested in the ladies who had just arrived at the door.