August 29, 2012 Greetings My Friend, I have heard from a mother my age range and I believe that our children don’t realize that we don’t have the energy we once did. Todays 50’s woman is not the same 50’s type woman of our younger days. Women generally did not work outside the home. Today’s woman has raised her family, worked outside the home, gone to school and volunteered. I am finding more and more 50ish year old women who are totally worn out. If the woman did not have children then she tended to have a career or two and was involved in all kinds of extra activity. We get to our 50’s and well the energy is a thing of the past now. I can’t always believe I don’t have the energy I once had. I want to get up tackle a major job in a few hours and frankly I can’t. It irritates me to no end to not be able to dig in and do as I have done for a good portion of my life. My low blood pressure seems to be the culprit. I can’t even walk as far as I have in the past. I saw a commercial that to me sums up how I feel. It is for COPD which I don’t have but the scene feels like the struggle I have. It is an elephant sitting on top of a person lying on the couch. That extra weight is what I feel like I keep trying to push through. Prozac has given me some of my energy back and depression definitely has depleted my energy but then I am still struggling. At present I think my energy struggles is my low blood pressure and I think that I have always lacked the stamina a lot of people have had but now I am experiencing even less energy. A retired lady who is her 80’s has taught me to do what I can when I can. She also has taught me 5 minutes of work is more than what was done prior to those 5 minutes and well that helps me do me in my late 50’s. My mother was the exception for her generation since she had to go to work to support our family after Dad had polio. Mom was worn out early on. She started missing work and was on medical leave for various reasons towards the end of her career. She was finally let go and that hurt her so much. I remember thinking that Mom burned the candle at both ends a whole lot. My mother-in-law was for the most part an at home mother, with 7 children. She was the type that seemed to truly enjoy keeping her house clean, cooking for her family and caring for them. It was a full time job and she did it well. It wasn’t till her heart gave out on her that her energy seemed to lag. She kept that home spotless well into her 60’s and even a bit into her 70’s. It was more her 70’s that she truly slowed down. The woman could cook and her food was awesome. We were always happy to take home a pot of soup or one of her famous pies. My mother-in-law is often the example I look to as I try to be a homemaker only again. Then I find I can’t do what she was doing and that makes me sad. My ex was more in the middle and when we had children my mother-in-law still had teenagers at home. She was too tired to watch the grandchildren any amount. They wore her out. She loved them but she did not have the energy anymore. I remember feeling she didn’t care. At this point though I realize that she could no longer do what she had done. After the last ones left home and started having children she regained some energy to watch their little ones. She could not do it like she had done for most of her life though. Her heart was getting worse and frankly she could not do what she had done. She had heart problems for years but then those problems became worse and worse. I became a grandmother in my 40’s. I loved having the kids spend the night. We baked cookies, we let them play with the hammer and nails on a saw horse. We let them dig in the yard. A loved to dress up our stuffed frog and put outfits on him and then show the frog off to Papa and I. I could only handle the kids for one night. When they left I was fast asleep quickly. There were even times where I had to lie down while Papa tended after them. One of the goals I have is not to be a grumpy old person. I would rather make people laugh. When I am at the store I tend to get silly sometimes and the cashier will giggle at my antics. I then tell them that my goal as an older person is to make people laugh and not be grumpy like so many I have encountered through the years. I have to accept that my body is older and can’t do what it once did. Part of getting older also means that my body begins to fall apart more and more. That means health struggles are part of the package and I can either accept them or be angry. Since being angry doesn’t mean that I will gain back my strength so I will try to be positive and accept my limitations. I find people don’t enjoy being around grumpy people. I would rather be pleasant than unpleasant so again I must accept my limitations and move on. May God bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you. Love Janet