Producing Video at the Gracious Age of Seventy

It is a GREY and misty day out today. I was out early for my feral fix. It was warm and still dry. There were so many birds around and the bird feeders were empty. So I filled them and watched the unferals race around like their tails were on fire. Funny kitties! I messed with a few plants, and  threw dirt into the comppost. I had planned to walk but it became dull and rainy. Even the cats don't want to walk in it. 

I spent time editing a video on capcut. It is like rewiring your brain. I can't describe it any other way. Young people get right in there and create these amazing videos and here's the thing. They did not just sit down and make the video. Their brain is trained differently. They learned early to edit. Could be a life hack!!

 Todays video edit was easier than its been. Still not easy but getting there. And the end result, though not perfect, is smoother. An improvement, for sure. I have been working at creating good video for almost three years, I think. I can remember saying out loud, "I will never do video", and here I am doing it. I have created over 200 videos on my phone. Staggering!!

It is hard in the beginning for the Ageless to video ourselves. It is because we are not supposed to be self-admiring. And we do that as we begin sharing ourselves in video. We are super conscious of how we imagine we are supposed to look. Actually how we see ourselves in the mirror is not how you may see us. It's a thing.

 I remember the first hundred or so pictures of myself -just pictures-after I turned 50 and how I found something wrong with every one of them. I suddenly became a critic of my appearence and it was never nice. And then I'd think, "well that isn't good, I don't look professional, smart, pretty, courageous, likable"and so much more. What finally convinced me to push the "share" button was being reminded that this is how others see me everyday. When I am not looking in a mirror, this is what I look like, so get used to it. Find something else to fret about.

It was tough. And then came the videos. They seemed so fake to me. But, when I worked with my coach on the first video project for nurses, she helped by editing the videos and when I saw them, I was impressed. I thought, "I'd listen to this person". 

Suddenly, I liked the videos. I listened to the whole program as we put it together and what I wasn't noticing was how my hair looked or my makeup. I was seeing the gift in what I was sharing in the program.  It is the content that really matters. And I have content to share. Even that came as a surprise to me.

Here's the thing, when you get to a certain age, you can't be thinking , "I didn't do much in my life, I don't have any qualities, I don't have anything to share". That is a lie! Every woman that has reached a certain age has been through something that another younger woman thinks she will not survive. 

These are your gifts, your shares. These are some of the things I share in video. And it stimulates my creative juices. It also reminds me that I too have lived through events. I hate using the word but I have 'survived' and there is always a story in those decisions and bumps in the road of my life. Those are what books are made of.  

So when you are ready to do video shares, don't be afraid!

Be Brilliant! Be Courageous! Save a life with your story!

Am I enough?

Again, I am learning something new or more advanced at 70+.

 

 Is it because I feel bored? 

Is there some kind of expectation that because I am Cis Ahearn, that I will finally find something other than nursing that I am successful at?

Have I not met my purpose by being a nurse for 50+ years, traveling all over the world, doing most outdoor snow sports, working out at some of the most amazing health clubs in the USA, been at yoga since I was 21, and on and on? 

Who am I trying to please?

 Who am I trying to impress? 

Retiring and the following 4 years, while interesting, was mostly a disaster with my funds. I can't lie, I followed a few rabbits down a few holes. Bad holes. But, I keep getting up, brushing off my butt or my knees and taking off again. The most important thoughts about this have been about gratitude. It is how I managed.

I mean, who am I to complain? I have a roof over my head, I live in my dream location. I have food in my fridge and cabinets. Warm water to shower in. I have clothing for winter weather. A car. Gasoline in my tank. And so much more. I believe I have enough.  

My rules about this may be the challenge. 

Is having "enough" enough? 

Maybe I hold the bar too low. Maybe if I was a person who thought they needed more of everything, I might have more....of everything. 

Somewhere I learned that I never had enough. That I was never enough. And I will grant you, that value came from me. I fought hard, I put up with a lot of criticism, complaints and negative feedback on who I was supposed to be vs who I wanted to be. But, especially with family, it  and I were never enough. Not a doctor, not married,  not a book producer, not enough. 

So to keep my head above water, I did a lot!! I kept in perpetual motion. I travelled, I moved for jobs in all sorts of places. I drove cross-country over 15 times. I met so many people who typically, I would pick their brains, "what makes you tick", "what makes you so successful" and so many more questions all to prove to myself I wasn't enough and that the answers are out there, I just need to ask the right person the right question and I would be enough.

I have had times where I did have "everything". I great job (many actually), money in the bank and in an 401K, a home, clothes, trips, cars, and I was happy mostly. Maybe I didn't appreciate it enough. I know I was grateful for the gifts. I was grateful for the experiences-good and not so good. But, was I enough?

I even taped the words, "I Am Enough!" over my bed in a little attic room I rented one a month vacation I took to Steamboat Springs. I had started a new training, "Robbins-Madanas Training" on strategic Intervention and Life Coaching. I had already spent 8 years in the Tony Robbins environment as a participant, volunteer and Senior Leader. I was still asking questions and still not enough.

I think somewhere deep inside me, there is some little thing someone said or did that is buried like a burr in my soul, saying "you will never amout to anything". I remember where those words came from. 

How could I after all these years give any power to them, considering where they came from? That barbed arrow went deep. But, is it true? 

Am I enough? 

And according to who's rules?

 Does feeling 'not enough' explain my lack of follow through, my lack of financial stability, my lack of self worth? 

I can't say it is a result of not searching for answers, I have been on the hunt for decades. 

Therapy, coaching, time alone in the wild, on the road, on the beach. 

I require down time, I always have and it helps to ground me for sure! 

But, has it answered the question for me? 

Has it unplugged the barb?

 Am I enough?

https://bit.ly/CisAhearn

Tip # 2 Be Aware of the Ruts!!

Can't wait!! The book launch is coming!!! "Ageless Voices"

Serious as a Hang Grenade (or a Heart Attack)

                               

                       

       When is enough enough? 

I am almost 70 years old and I am still learning and growing my boundaries. I find it difficult to create boundaries as a woman even today because the absolute feminine in us as women says “be nice”, “she/he’s just having a bad day” for the hundredth, maybe thousandth  time. And do it now. Don’t wait-they might die before you figure it out.

 I've been thinking about what motivated me to change my boundaries in the past.

Most importantly, I did not want the pain of it. I wanted to understand it. I wanted to be open to finding a better way to deal. And I wanted to grow. Being who I was when I was “bad” wasn’t fun or pretty or respected. My family history leaned toward mean and toxic arguing.

So I dove in. I read books on anger, codependency, NLP and so much more. I attended seminars, groups, therapy, coaching, retreats, certification programs, gobbling up information and understanding of what my feelings were and what they were doing to me and the world around me.

I had been such a sucker for a sad story (someone else's story). And I found that I drew women to me who wanted my new and emerging power and strength for themselves. Only they did not want to do the work. And soon the energy and joy was being sucked right out of me. Their attrations was their need for me and it was draining.

Tony would say, “who you hang out with is who you become”. I am an introvert, it was a challenge for me to hang out with women who were more powerful and aware than I. But, I did it anyway. In their circle of light, I began to find my way to my own. And many of the friends who taught me what I did not want soon found their way to their own path, or back to the search for the “right” teacher.

The incredible pull between  “do what is right for me” and “be kind, understanding, forgiving to toxic behavior” is strong. So strong that it has affected my health. 

I had an ER visit yesterday. I was sitting in on a staff meeting, totally awesome  leadership when I suddenly started to feel off. I was feeling some discomfort in my chest and I was burping alot. I drank water and the discomfort would return in about 5 minutes. I started to feel light headed and nauseous and SCARED. I asked a co-worker to take my blood pressure and it was SKY HIGH!! I check my b/p weekly or more because I am on meds for it.

 I instantly started to cry. 

“Not now, not this ( a heart attack?), I have errands to do today!!!” My friend said, “why don’t we walk down to the ER and see what’s going on”.  I was falling apart.

After I was settled in and tests were being done I asked the PA, “what would cause this sudden increase (since there were no signs of any heart attack) and he said, “stress”.  I thought, “I am not stressed, I work part time, I do yoga, I love my abode, my cat, the ferals, my life in the country. I don’t have any stress!” 

Then, I got home. I had a text and I realized, “OH MY GODDESS! This is what it’s about!” So, I spent some more time thinking about this toxic situation that I was trying to understand and move through. 

I want to do the right thing. But for whom!?!?!?!? I have to figure out a way to rewrite the story because the blood pressure thing is as real as a hand grenade (or a heart attack)! I knew when this toxic event was going on that I was feeling it at a level I did not want in my life. And I felt okay after, yet it was there waiting for the best moment to show up -somewhere where I was safe, at work, near the ER. 

By choosing me, I am honoring my boundaries that took me so many years to understand and appreciate. I will always help others but I will not carry them.  I am not responsible for their life choices, their past. I am not a punching bag. I may not be perfect, but I am honorable and worthy of respect. So I choose me. For now, I am choosing present moments as though today is my only day. I am loving the people who love, respect and honor who I am as I will do the same for them. 

                                                              I chose me.

Reflections in their eyes-Ageless Strength comes from Us

 

We are always talking about what it takes to be 'healthy'. As ageless women, we still carry the expectation that we must be buff, beautiful, fit, an elder athlete. We celebrate when we see this in octogenarians running a marathon, biking in the Alps, and so on. I used to think that I would always be athletic. I had a passion for working out, biking, running, snow sports, swimming and yoga from as far back as I can remember.

 The benefit wasn't just being 'healthy' it was how I learned to deal with stress, anger, disappointment and depression. I needed help with those things when I was younger.

 For many years, I worked out in a club 3-5 days a week. I would ride my bike in between or I'd run. As a Traveler, it was how I got to know whatever new city I was working in. I always found a club to work out it and at the worst, bike paths and running paths. I was also driven by the unspoken demands of  a society that said, 'you are not enough, be more'. 

I don't regret the drive to be all that, I just don't miss it much. I see women running or biking and I literally can feel what it felt like, as though I am them. I feel the pull in my quads, the deep breathing, the internal focus, my abs. But, I do not miss it. And I give up beating myself up for it everyday I don't run or ride or work out. We are allowed our phases in life. When we say, "I have done it all", at this age, we have. Our years were not wasted. Our lives as Boomers were learning years. In order to navigate the world of change, we were forced (chose) to grow. To be dramatically different than the lives of our Mothers, at least, that is what we thought. 

Whether we were single, married, divorced, widowed, childless, mothers, we are women of change, of great value and wisdom. If we were given a chance to look back at each year of our earlier lives, there would be a lesson (or five) that we learned by choice or otherwise each year. 

We are here today to recognize the wisdom of the millions of lessons we have learned including the ones we don't give ourselves credit for. And to let go, let loose the hold that these lessons( old beliefs, regrets, resentments) have on us and open up to a more meaningful golden age life.

We are here to be sages, mentors, teachers, coaches for the generations of women who came into this world of confusion, paradoxes and controls. We must stand up and say what we know to be true with confidence. Not just to our daugthers, but to all young women. 

I'll share a story. Many years ago a friend called me from the bathroom of a labor and delivery unit. She was so upset, her youngest daugther was have a baby and she did not know what to do. I said to her, "Look in the mirror, pal. This is the face you are sharing with her right now. The face she needs to see is the warrior women, the natural birth mom. She is looking to you for strength,not fear reflected back." She said two words, "Got it!" We have the strength. It is in all of us!!!

So the next time you feel yourself withdraw, when what you really want to do is step up, do it! There is an incredible power within you to rise up and stand tall. Use it. "Be the change you wish to see." 

They are not looking for their own reflection in our eyes, they are looking for the strength in yours. 

What's up with that Bag of Rocks-Can we grow up at 69?

 

When I have an inbalance in a relationship with a friend or family member, I withdraw. I used to do it because I felt responsible, ashamed, hurt. I needed the quiet to lick my wounds. And then I grew up some. 

We are all fallible at some point or another. Sometines we carry around this bag of rocks , each a witness to a time when we showed our unfavorable side or the other person did. Which ever, many of us turned it into a rock and added it to the bag. Others, God Bless them, let things go like water off a ducks back, especially with spouses. 

The rocks represent the slights, the misunderstandings, the anger, the. regret, the resentments, all that stuff that actually takes away from our own goodness. And we let it. Because the feeling is familiar or maybe we have a desire to feel lousy (again, an old belief or story). 

Then one day, the bag gets too heavy or explodes on someone not responsible for the pain. And we add that to the bag and keep trudging on until one day we set it down. Maybe someone says, "what are those rocks?" And you say, "What rocks?" Yet, deep down you know what they are talking about. You know because you have lived it. You  remind yourself in certain circumstances how out they fly and bop someone on the head. 

Here is where it becomes a struggle. When that bop on the head causes a chain reaction and they start throwing rocks too. It's a fire storm and when it ends, there are a lot of bruises and hurt feelings.And the bag isn't empty, you just pick up the rocks and shove them back in the bag because you don't want to feel it or examine the words or history of the rocks.  It can be an unending cycle of dump, gather, run. 

The gift of aging is that we eventually learn to put the bag down, have a seat and take out one rock at a time and examine it. You ask yourself questions lilke:

Why am I carrying this around with me?

Does it serve me?

Does it serve the greater good?

Did I create this to protect me at an earlier time?

Do I still need it or have I finally figured out that It doesn't serve me anymore?

Am I willing to let it go and grow?

Is there somewhere in my garden I can set it down and let it have a new life-without me?

And then, move on to the next one. Some of the rocks can be very big and we need help to decifer its meaning. And we go to friends and ask for advice. At this age there is great advice available. Sometimes we don't want to hear what our friends are saying or we need  time. Sometimes we need help from outside our world,  a coach or a therapist.  

If we continue to throw the same rock (belief, story) over and over and aren't getting what we want we need to really look closely at what the story is around the rock. Maybe it was just a time in our lives. It isn't today. The past is over. We carry good memories (storys) as well, but do those story's control us as the rocks do? Do we get overwhelmed and dump love rocks when we are excited and happy?

I am not saying that rocks are not beautiful, I am saying they look better in the garden, in the creek, along the ocean, along the roadside, not in that bag on your back. 

So the next time you are vomiting your rocks, stop yourself and ask, "Is this rock serving me anymore?" And if it isn't take a good look at it and thank it for it's work and let it go. Toss it in the river, out to sea, out the window, plant it in your yard. Make space for a new idea or opportunity to arise. Be grateful, be patient, open up to the possibilities, uncover more of your essence, be open to recieve, be available for more love, friendships, blessings. Just put that rock down.