Are You Too Old to Feel Great?
There is a widely-held misperception that being “old” (whatever age you happen to believe that to be) means you’re going to get weaker, more fatigued, have aches and pains, depression, steadily falling apart. You just have to live with it because that’s what aging is. Science says, “no!”
“If someone comes into my office walking at a snail’s pace and tells me ‘I’m old; I’m just slowing down,’ I’m like no, that isn’t right,” said: Dr. Lee Ann Lindquist, a professor of geriatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Yes, our bodies do change as we get on in years. But, research says, Don’t believe that any symptoms you might be feeling are chalked-up to age and that there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s not true!
I don’t know about you, but I think that’s great news!
This is the kind of wrong assumption that we explore here in the Little White Lie Digital Network, because it’s just another of the lies society spreads and we tell ourselves, which keep us from embracing our authentic self, loving whatever age we’re in!
In my latest Little White Lie FB Live show, the question we’re asking our community is this: “Are you too old to feel great?” Check out the full version of the show here:
I was thrilled to have Kim Castle as my guest, someone who is uniquely qualified to help us tackle this question. She is energy personified, with a long list of amazing accomplishments and awards, and currently creative strategist and founder of Lifelicious.
But … it wasn’t always that way for Kim, and I want to share her story with you because we all have something to learn from her journey.
Kim says: “I’ve always been a go, go, go, overcome physical limits, push, push, push person! When I was young, I was really sick. I had a speech impediment so people couldn’t understand what I said. I had asthma, I was allergic to everything in the city of Miami, where I grew up. But, I decided I wasn’t going to accept those limits.
So I threw myself into becoming a synchronized swimmer. I spent a lot of time in the water, and in a year I competed in the Junior Olympics. Then I cured myself of asthma.
And she kept push-push-pushing, a “non-stop, professional, Type A, over exercising, perfectionist.”
“Until a few years ago when all of a sudden … I went from being very outgoing, loving life, loving people, to finding myself myself sitting in the dark. Just sitting in the dark, and I couldn’t take the sound of TV, I couldn’t take people talking. I couldn’t be around people … I was depressed all the time.
As an athlete, I had been conditioned to work out all the time and taught aerobics for 15 years. But I would wake up in the morning and cry putting my sneakers on. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. And then I literally had nothing, I was quite frankly suicidal… I could be driving on the highway and all of a sudden the thought would go through my head, I wonder what would happen if I drove off this overpass.”
Just as she had done as a child, Kim didn’t accept this for herself.
Kim sought help, and found out that she had deep adrenal insufficiency, AKA adrenal fatigue. She also had hypothyroidism, metabolic issues, gut issues, immune dysfunction — and all because she had worn herself out. She says, “It’s like I borrowed fuel from my future, because all of my chemicals and reserves were down to nothing.”
Kim claims that once she was able to admit something was wrong, she could get the support she needed to overcome it, and found help in an integrative doctor. And here’s the key: Kim didn’t accept feeling bad! “Yes, there was something wrong, but I’m choosing to be alive!
This planet is beautiful. Life is beautiful, and I want to feel not just good, but I want to feel great. So I made that choice.”
“I didn’t want to accept that getting older is a part of feeling crappy, or feeling crappy is a part of getting older!”
Doing whatever it took to feel great again meant a major change in her diet and shifting away from the Type A, go, go, go, perfectionist mode.
This is how she started Lifelicious — a way to share her journey, because she knew she wasn’t the only woman who ever felt like this, wondering what’s happening to them, and if this is going to be their life until they die. Lifelicious is about really understanding how to be vital with food, and changing our relationship with food. So, how do you make that change, where do you start — especially if you’re a Type A, recovering perfectionist like Kim??
Pay attention to the loop, Kim advises — that loop inside your head that says, “Why do you keep pushing yourself?”
Or whatever your own might be saying to help you, protect you — and you’re not listening to it, pushing the voice away. Kim says, “Pay attention to the loop and if it’s saying you’re tired, then find out why you’re tired” rather than ignoring it and doing your body damage.
Make a commitment to yourself to feel great.
It’s really important to differentiate between feeling good and feeling great. This is how Kim says to think about ‘great:’ “Remember how, when you were a little kid of five years old, running through the sprinklers on a hot humid day seeing the sun dancing in the water drops? Remember that exuberance, overflowing with the joy of being alive? I believe that we can live that way until we’re not on this planet.”
Put your well-being first.
Kim confesses that she had to reprogram thinking not to just push, push, push all the time! “I literally had to speak to my well-being in the third person because I was that separate from it: ‘What do you need? What do you need right now to feel great, to feel supported?’” Be a good listener to yourself, and put yourself first — it’s the best thing you can do for the world around you!
Look at your relationship with food knowing that food affects the quality of your life 100%!
Your body is a chemistry factory, and every food you put into your body introduces another chemical. Pay attention to how the food you eat makes you feel. Realize you don’t eat because you’re hungry, you eat for fuel. So eat food that fuels you to feel great!
How to “eat your cake and feel great too?” Find out from Kim Castle:
Lifelicious.me
Kimcastle.tv
Thanks for joining the Little White Lie Movement!
