Now I feel sort of badly that I went ahead and switched my combo bio and self help book to December because this one would have been a great one to go out on.
Radiant Rebellion: Reclaim Aging, Practice Joy, and Raise a Little Hell by Karen Walrond
I know right?
And it totally lived up to the title. It was more of a book about her journey, when she hit 55 and realized that she needed to really evaluate what her next steps looked like. A lot of good stuff in there. Including a whole section on internalized ageism. Even those of us who aren't really afraid of getting older, or who try our best to embrace it harbor some of that feeling and it was interesting to have that mirror held up.
Basically a lot of times what we think of as problems with being old aren't really due to age at all. Like when you think to yourself, I am old, what are you really thinking about right then? I am tired. I am stressed. I am not in the shape I used to be. I don't feel sexy. I don't feel seen. What is it really and is it something you can fix?
What do we mean when we talk about being young? Do we mean vibrant? Sexy? Full of potential? What do we really mean by young and old?
I am older. There are things that go along with that. But also there are things that are in my control. When you age you lose muscle tone. People don't really know why. (Isn't that a kicker?) Possibly hormonal changes, possibly some function in the cells related to time, possibly a biological throwback to needing less protein resources so the members of your tribe that were still having kids could have more and you could exist on fewer. BUT I can help negate that loss by making sure I'm doing weight bearing exercise to keep the muscles I have in good shape so I can be independent and pain free.
My hormones are shifting and that comes with a host of other side effects but I can change the way I eat, or take supplements to help balance that.
None of that is a problem. It's a difference in life time periods, but it's not a pathology.
She talked about finding a guiding purpose, a spark statement, a cause, ways that you like to play and making sure you do it. Keeping your own style in mind, if you want to go gray, go gray. Don't dress a certain way because you're "supposed" to but dress in a way that when you look in the mirror you say Oh there I am!
I know, a lot of this sounds like stuff I've been talking about for awhile and I know that's why I liked it so much. But it's always nice to find people that agree with you. And she doesn't just write about what she thinks, she talks to people who are working on those things. It's a self help book full of self help books.
Here is another funny aside to the book...
She talks a lot throughout that she has her notebook; where she writes things down, where she ponders her life questions and sets intentions, works out ideas. At the end of the book she has a section on how you can set up your own notebook to follow what she did that year. The things she asked herself about what she wanted to do and how she wanted to live. Sectioned out like the book, the questions you could write out. The Radiant Rebellion manifesto to put in the front.
So as I was reading that the American Consumer Former Marketer in me thought...she should have published a workbook to go with her book. People would buy a ready made version of this with blank spaces to fill in their own writing. So I went and looked to see if she had.
There are two workbooks to go with the book on Amazon. Someone else has made them. More American Capitalist than me, I just thought she should have, they figured out a way to make money on her work.
I won't be setting up my own version of her notebook. I sort of already have a place where I write out my thoughts on all of those subjects... but I do recommend the book. Her book, not the knockoff notebooks.
Hopefully next month's book will be a good one because this one was one of the best of lot.
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