I'm not ready to get old!

There were times during my menopausal years that I felt I was just shrinking back from life. Had God brought me to this point in my journey to have me sit on the sidelines and watch others as they struggled through familiar territory I had already traveled? I wanted so much to be used by God and yet I had no formal training in anything. I was a mom and soon to be a grandma. My life experiences with marriage were not exactly what I wanted to talk about unless I could just talk about my wonderful husband of 25 years. Past failures and poor choices made me feel very vulnerable and I wasn’t up to that either. So what did God want from me? He had showed me glimpses of what I am doing today and I thought surely He wasn’t going to ask me to stand in front of people and talk.

Why do we as older women feel we are to step aside and let the younger women do all the work? I must admit though there are times when I use the excuse I am tired and can’t do everything like I used too. That is so lame, isn’t it? But for several years my mind seemed to be in a funk and my memory was …well I had no memory. I would go to introduce a good friend to another and forget their name. I would be in the middle of a sentence and forget what I was even talking about. I heard an older lady once say, “it’s a senior moment” and everyone laughed and then she changed the subject and just went on like nothing happened. To me she was hard to follow, but not anymore. I find the easiest people in the world to converse with are the ones that just laugh and go on. We can always go back to that topic….when we remember what is was!

Our society tells us that we must stay pretty, thin and up-to-date on the latest styles and the current events. Well I tried that but soon the current events started to run together and I never got any of the facts right. Well that was embarrassing. The latest styles made me look like an older women, trying to look like a younger women and it was so uncomfortable. Why did my waist have to grow out the sides, anyway? My daughter-in-law is also my hairstylist and I want to have the latest hairstyle and she certainly helps me in that area. If it is something I wouldn’t look good wearing she lets me know.

The very best antidote to menopause is HUMOR! When I was finally able to laugh at myself, my outlook improved and spirit was lifted. When I was able to talk openly about my panic attacks, the fear subsided. When I was able to accept the aging process, God granted me peace.

My Interpretation:

LAUGH! LOVE! LIVE! Ask God for peace and a sense of humor. Remember none of us are going through something strange as if women before us did not experience menopause.