Inspiration/Perspiration Fridays
Take a Walk on the Wild Side
Ms. Bockle: I’ve now got a FitBit, and rarely does a day go by when I reach the goal I set of taking a certain—yet to be disclosed—number of steps. However! For that last few weeks I’ve been READING about walking: The first book is called ‘The Elegant Gathering of White Snows’ by Kris Radish. An interesting book, although not quite believable, and not really inspirational as it didn’t get me out on the road to self-discovery. In fact, by the end of the book, my own discovery was that I wasn’t nearly as ’empty’ as the women who were in dire need of a very long walk.
I did enjoy the discoveries made by the end of the walk:
The unplanned irony is that the next book I picked to read just happened to be ‘Wild’ by Cheryl Strayed—all about hiking 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail. Again, the walk is a process of self-discovery and healing; unlike the first book where there was a group of women walking, Cheryl does the hike solo. I’ve just started this book, so can’t give any information on discoveries made, but one thing is clear: The sheer gutsy perseverance of the author is a brilliant source of inspiration.
Perhaps my own bit of discovery is to find within myself the will to reach my walking goal, and then try for an even higher number. Unfortunately, my mode of operation fits in perfectly with this week’s theme: procrastination…don’t do today what you can put off until tomorrow!
Fashion for Boomers?
LaFitterina: One of my friends from high school days posted on Facebook:
Yooo hooooo…..fashion designers! There’s a huge Baby Boomer population looking for fashionable, attractive clothes. If you make it, we will shop.
This post generated lots of Likes and comments bemoaning the lack of clothes in stores (e.g., ‘From what I can tell, no one wants what’s in the stores right now’). I wanted to comment, but didn’t, that it’s probably not a problem with what’s available (or not) in stores. Rather, when was it ever ‘easy’ to find clothes that met all our criteria — style, flattering, fit, and priced right (preferably triple markdown). That’s why we call it ‘shopping’, not ‘buying’. And that’s why we’re asked by the salespeople “May I help you?” Of course, these days it’s usually the grammatically incorrect “Can I help you?” And a rarity at that. I find I’m becoming more invisible as I age.
Anyway, the problem is that our baby boomer bodies are deteriorating — we’re not babes anymore, and a lot of unflattering shifting is taking place. All of a sudden (boom!), we’ve getting our mom’s/grandma’s body. And the harsh reality is that inevitably, eventually our clothes will start to resemble potato sacks.
Take bathing suits — there’s no way whatsoever that anyone could design a bathing suit that looks terrific on a baby boomer, even if we’ve stayed in relatively good shape.
And our aging skin is another thing — it’s not a good backdrop for our clothes. The less exposed the better is the rule now. I’m hoping that something like this will become the hot new style:
Zeigarnik Effect— what?!
Mizzfit: This week’s been all about procrastination, so here’s a video from some science-minded guys on how to get things done — and heads up, willpower is a depletable resource, who knew, right?
