Welcome to my new blog, Living the Queenager Life. As a woman in her 60’s, I want to show that aging can be positive.
So what is a Queenager? I’m not sure there’s an actual definition. I was thinking about this new mission in my life and wasn’t sure what I would call it. But, then, photos of t-shirts to buy kept popping up in my Facebook feed, as they will, and they all seemed to have the word Queenager on them. Aha! Queenager is a great word and encompasses the feel I want to give this new direction in my life. I will make the definition and it is:
In my day to day life here, I am involved with many in the veteran community. They are all around my age and older but I find I’m the healthiest one of them all. Their talk is constantly of VA hospitals, treatments, and prescriptions. Every time I’m party to one of these conversations, I’m so glad to not be in that place and it makes me wonder if they wouldn’t be in that place if their mind, body, and spirit were in a different spot. I’m absolutely not judging because I have not walked in their shoes. It’s just something I think about a lot.
For me, I wasn’t always the healthiest person. I am a tall person with a large frame. I like to say I’m larger than life. When I wanted to join the Marine Corps, they had pretty strict weight requirements, kind of like the airlines had for their flight attendants back in the day. I was always around 5 pounds more than the height/weight chart said I could be. In order to go to bootcamp, I had to lose those 5 pounds to make weigh in. My recruiters ran with me and also told me I could take laxatives and water pills to help the weight loss along.
This worked but it became habitual over the course of time I served and, eventually, I was diagnosed with bulimarexia. Not bulimia. Not anorexia. Both of them together. Go big or go home, right?
I was discharged from the Marine Corps when I found out I was pregnant with my second son. I’m not sure how girls do it nowadays because I had to go to a doctor’s appointment in Virginia (we were stationed in Cuba) and was in the medevac system for a couple of weeks when my first son was only eight months old. When I saw him again, he didn’t know who I was. It broke my heart. For me, leaving the Marine Corps was the right decision.
I felt the effects of disordered eating for many years following and I’d like to say I’m past all that now. But it took me a really long time and I struggled with my weight for so many years always trying the latest, famous diet. I felt terrible for a lot of years, physically.
This is the story of my journey from those terrible years to the positive, healthy place I am now. I hope to encourage others to take charge of getting their mind, body, and spirit in order so they can live a great healthy life as they age, not just exist. I hope you’ll come along with me!
Leave a Reply