I realized while at a mall, listening to two younger ladies brag to each other about their successful career advancement, that it’s been a long time since I have bragged about myself. Sung my own praises.
Not that I’m some huge, Toot Your Own Horner, but I believe every now and then it’s good to brag. To share some life pat on the back for putting forth an effort that pays off. We tend to do this privately, with a mental “atta girl.”. Remember when we used to share everyday life accomplishments with co-workers and others? What happened to that?
Our world changed and the rules changed and we hit a certain age and fell silent in this regard.
Therefore, with barely easily heard fanfare, I am sharing the amazing results of my latest DXA test! Now before you laugh at my age-appropriate humble brag, defer to the reality that any achievement is worth celebrating! As I’m sure you know, a DXA test is a bone density scan to measure your chances of breaking a bone. It calculates the thinning of a lady’s hip and spine using a DXA machine. It can also tell if that dreaded post menopause visitor, Osteoporosis, has knocked on your door and entered without announcing itself yet.
Doctors recommend we get one every ten years or so. We all dread getting those results. Who wants to know how much height they’ve lost? Turns out I do. Because I lost no height. As in not one millimeter. Even the guy reading the test was impressed.
He exclaimed he had never seen someone have no shrinkage at all in ten whole years. He and the other medical personnel were begging me to tell them how I accomplished this seemingly impossible feat.
I can only surmise that it’s because I did yoga for years and my instructor told me to always keep my shoulders back and down. No hunching forward. To be aware especially when driving not to ever jut my chin out when clasping the wheel. That hours and weeks and years and decades of being in that position while driving and at a computer would give every man and woman a curved spine in their future. And they would shrink. A lot. More than any of our grandparents did. No matter how much green juice we drank. Those lessons became engrained in my subconscious I guess.
I have always made sure the driver’s seat was adjusted back so I would sit upright in the car. Also, I invested in an eight hundred dollar chair for when I am writing. I even lugged that chair or a version of it to work with me!
Every job I had for over three decades, I had my Diane chair. Co-workers would try to take it over the second I left the room as a running joke. I’m sure they thought I was a nut job.
Now here I stand, just as I stood a decade ago. My gamble of believing my yoga teacher has paid off in inches and feet. Let’s say, I know what I stand for!
Do you have a humble brag? A little horn that needs tooting? Don’t be shy. Share your wins. Care enough to slightly yell things from your version of a rooftop. Let that inner brag escape its confines. It deserves some fresh air. In our unhappy marriages, we practiced denigrating ourselves. No more.
The next time you are out with a gal pal, or at a dinner party once they resume, let out your little wins. It will help all of us stand a little taller.
We all go through major life transitions when relationships end… Through this website, I will share my thoughts as I walk the path of “New-Self” discovery. It doesn’t matter which side of 50 you are on. The real question is, Are you ready to live life? To forge a Path of Your Own Making (For a change!)? Then stop dwelling over the What-Might-Have-Beens and join me. Share your thoughts here, comment on mine, and let’s do this together!