Getting off the grid
What brings readers to your blog?
Ever since I started writing on “Midlife Crisis Queen” back in 2007, I have wondered who comes to read my writing and why. My readers have certainly not been the people I expected. I originally expected a few family members and friends, but few of them ever came.
Instead I started making virtual friends all over the world. I got so close to one woman in Australia, I mailed her a copy of my new book free of charge! I met fellow blogger Barbara Weibel (left), who was just starting her travel blog. If you have any interest in world travel and incredible photography you should certainly check out: Hole in the Donut.
Most of all I connected with kindred spirits, those searching for something else after living a fairly conventional life up until age 40 or 50. All of my readers have been in search of adventure and transformation. All have enriched my life in some small way.
When I created this blog in October 2014, I expected to attract a very different crowd. I figured my midlife crisis days were behind me as Mike and I slowly settled into retirement in southern Colorado. And, sure enough, I have attracted some great virtual friends who can relate to these post-employment years, even if we are all still writing and publishing. One big surprise, how many readers from all over the world find moving to the Colorado outback country interesting!
What I have always found most astounding is how loyal certain virtual friends can be, and how hesitant my family and long-term friends have been to come here to read a blog post or two. I would think these folks would be most curious about my life, but apparently not. Certain virtual friends seem much more curious and loyal.
I have tried, but I cannot fathom why that is. Perhaps my family and old friends think they know me, but they don’t. We are all ever-changing beings, at least that is what I choose to believe!
Please follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/midlifequeen
Now for a discussion of mortality…
When you suddenly stare the possibility of cancer squarely in the face, it changes you. No big surprise, everybody dies, but it may be you this time.
Everything looks different. Those commercials for losing weight or cures for what seem like silly, non-threatening illnesses are just plain ridiculous. The worries of just about anybody else in the world seem so trivial. The subjects others write about seem trite and silly.
I pride myself in being realistic about my own death. I know none of us get out of this alive, and I have tried to get more comfortable with that fact. But when it becomes more real. When you look down at your body and seriously think about from dust to dust. When you stare over the abyss of nothingness, that’s enough to make just about anyone uncomfortable.
“What things would I give away? Would I want an obituary in the newspaper? How would my husband and dog handle it? (I’m pretty sure my cat would barely notice…) Should I tell friends and family now or wait? Who should I tell? People from my past? Who even cares?
Yes, I have had a couple close calls with death in my 61 years, but at the time I was either unconscious (bike accident, traumatic brain injury) or had absolutely no control over the situation (plane malfunction). In the plane over Tokyo Bay, my life did flash before me, but I was only 20. I didn’t have a lot to flash. I remember looking around myself and thinking, “Gee, I’m going to die with all these people I don’t even know.”
In the week or so after my cat scan and before I heard my lung nodules are not too scary, my life also flashed before me, but in slow motion. My conclusion is that I have led a difficult life, partially because of the choices I have made. I chose not to marry and have kids. I’ve spent most of my life on my own terms. It took a midlife crisis (at 49) for me to decide to try something different, trusting others.
All of the best experiences in my life have flown from that change, marriage to a loyal, loving partner, more security than I’ve ever known, a great puppy and a new rural lifestyle in an amazing solar home. I want more of these experiences before I die..
My hat is off to all cancer survivors more so than ever before. To my Mom and Jan and all of you who have stared a bad diagnosis, surgery, and death in the face and survived the trauma of it all. This is something you never forget. This is life.
Boomers & the Reality of Mortality
OK, for all of you young oldsters out there who have decided you will be living forever, this is fair warning.
I was recently diagnosed with COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and no, I never smoked cigarettes! This is probably the result of living in dirty city air for 60+ years, and having what seemed like constant bronchitis since age 25. I also just moved to a home at 7,000 feet elevation. All of these factors caused shortness of breath and a request for a chest x-ray. Possible lung nodules were found leading to a cat scan this past Monday. As a non-smoking 61 year-old, I did not expect any problem. Instead my cat scan found a number of “nodules” in my lungs.
Overall, the likelihood that a lung nodule is cancer is 40 percent, but the risk of a lung nodule being cancerous varies considerably depending on several things like the size of them, whether you smoke, your occupation, shape of nodules and their rate of growth. Lung nodules — small masses of tissue in the lung — are quite common. They appear as round, white shadows on a chest X-ray or computerized tomography (CT) scan, and are often caused by previous infections.
Think it can’t happen to you?
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with 1.8 million new cases diagnosed yearly. In the United States, lung cancer is the most fatal cancer in women, surpassing breast cancer in 1987 as the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. It is also the most fatal cancer in men, killing more men than prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colon cancer combined. Lung cancer in never-smokers is the sixth leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
Overall, 27 percent of cancer deaths in the U.S. are due to lung cancer.
Who Gets Lung Cancer?
The average age for lung cancer is 70, and 80 percent of people who develop lung cancer have smoked, but lung cancer occurs in women and lung cancer occurs in non-smokers. While lung cancer in men who have smoked is decreasing, lung cancer in non-smokers is increasing.
It’s estimated that 20 percent of women who develop lung cancer in the U.S. have never smoked, and that number increases to 50 percent worldwide. Lung cancer also occurs in young adults – It’s estimated that 13.4 percent of lung cancers occur in adults under the age of 40. While this number may seem small, when compared to the incidence of lung cancer overall, it is not.
In summary, if you haven’t had a lung x-ray in years, get one. My nodules are small and so we have decided to go with a wait and see plan, with cat scans every few months. It’s only a problem if they start to grow.
Now I live in a rural Colorado county with nice clean air, but all those years of living in cities must be catching up with me… How about you?
Life in the Colorado outback…
As the sun rises each day over the Spanish Peaks…
the birds gather out on our feeder to have a quick bird seed meal and a drink, if the water isn’t frozen.
Did you ever notice?
“The world is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” -YEATS
“There’s something beautiful about quiet and peace. There’s something beautiful about not trying to do anything, but simply, in some way, your heart joining the whole world. There’s a time in life when we should be running around doing things. We should go out dancing; there’s a time in life for that. There’s a time in life for building something up in this world, a family, an institution, a business, a creative life; there’s a time for that.
There’s also a time for becoming quiet, a time for slow conversations with people that we love, and a time for reflecting on all the things that we’ve seen in many years of living. When the time for those things comes, it’s beautiful. It’s not a terrible thing, it’s sweet. There’s also a time for letting go of our life, not “Damn, somebody’s snatching this away from me,” but “Yes, it’s beautiful to exhale after you inhale.” At the right time, when the chest is full, breathe out and let go.” – Norman Fischer, “Suffering Opens the Real Path”
Best of Boomer Blogs #480
It’s time to hear from a few of my favorite bloggers of a certain age… What have they been doing or thinking about this week?
Carol Cassara has a very funny one for you today. Here she shares the many misheard song lyrics that Boomers (and others) have been massacring for years, if not decades. And also some pretty things to make your day cheerier. Enjoy the beauty.
Anyone who has even a passing acquaintance with the Sightings Over 60 blog knows that Tom Sightings is thinking a lot about downsizing, primarily because he’s in the middle of the process himself. But rather than offer his own advice about this complex and emotionally trying operation, he turns to a professional in his latest post The Costs and Benefits of Downsizing.
It’s been quite a week for Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide. Two giant corporations pled guilty to criminal charges related to fraudulent schemes, with some of their executives being charged, too. In addition, they’ll pay huge fines, Volkswagen $2.8 billion for cheating on emission tests and Takata $1 billion for falsified test data related to the safety of its air bags.
A new year offers many new opportunities. Did you know each year one company designates a color corporate soothsayers believe not only expresses the nation’s mood, but also becomes a major color for retail merchandise like clothing, accessories, home appliances, decor, and even furniture?
Find out what the latest ‘in’ color is over at Meryl Baer‘s post about the 2017 Color of the Year.
And now for my favorite photo from all of these marvelous boomer blogs! He’s awfully cute! Who doesn’t love a puppy? But perhaps he isn’t quite as cute as my Rasta the day we got him. He was only 3 pounds and unbelievably CUTE!
Unfortunately, I have been hit with a number of bits of bad news about my health lately. This is especially hard to take since I have generally been healthy most of my life. I am having quite a reality check at 61!
When you hear there might be something wrong with your brain and your lungs on the same day, it does make you wonder what’s up. Perhaps that explains my post this week about Cannabinoid (CBD) Oil. It’s a none-THC oil derived from hemp plants. Go learn more here.
Adventures of the NEW??? Old Farts 