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another Turn in the Road –Strength Training

I started back in January.

Was I being silly? I was after all simply an old granny writer. Would I be able to keep it up? The investment of time and energy, both in short supply, held me back. Also, I was too inhibited to investigate the gym by myself. (She who hauls her camper all over backroads was inhibited to walk into a gym.)

But then my teenage granddaughter came to visit. She knows about such things.

“Sure, I’ll go with you, Nana.”

She walked through the gym and pointed out equipment. She stood beside me while I nervously agreed to a gym membership plan and handed over my credit card.

And here I was today, six months in.

Yes, at the age of seventy-three, I began strength training, and with a trainer less than half my age. I’m having a blast! I’m also learning, much to my amazement, the impressive healing powers of exercise and lifting weights. Hip pain and arm pain are gone when I move. The young trainers repeat: “Motion is lotion.” The effort at lifting also produces in the body a lifting of mood, a sense of wellbeing and confidence. A sense of hopeful possibilities. It is remarkable.

This month marks twelve years of widowhood. In this year I find my life playing out along the lines of themes of all my novels –personal transformation, letting go, and moving forward. Those themes seem to be universal to all human beings living life on earth and are repeated again and again as the years roll on.

“Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and becoming.”
~ Myrna Loy, actress

The blurb for Lost Highways, the book that started the Valentine series, reads: “. . . the story of a woman traveling too long on an endless stretch of lonesome road who finds her way home at last.” Rainey Valentine is a woman with many heartaches, as we all have, and in the course of the story she grows and changes, heals and finds herself.

In the course of her journey, our heroine Carley Love experiences the spiritual awakening of learning that “she is stronger than she knew, that foolish mistakes are part of living, but so is abundant grace to cover them — and that she must let go of the past in order to move forward.”

I have learned, as have the characters in my novels, that we can always do more than we ever imagined we could do. I remind myself of that often.

And this is my reminder to you. You are stronger than you know. Enjoy your fabulous self today doing something you have dreamed of doing. Take time to dream, and then take time to do.

Grace and peace,

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9 responses to “another Turn in the Road –Strength Training”

  1. Curtiss Ann I am so impressed to see you doing strength training. I am going to let this inspire me to go to the gym.
    Thank you. Debbie Norman

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  3. Wonderful!! I’m so happy you’ve chosen to do this! I’ve been encouraging my mom (also 73) to strength train and work on her mobility and balance. Sending your letter to her for encouragement. Keep learning and growing!! 💪

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    • How wonderful, Mandi, that your mother has you to encouraging inspire her! I really am blown away by the benefits of strength training. My entire body and mind is blessed with it. I send messages to my grandson, telling him how much I lifted on a certain day, and he always replies to me with encouragement. It means so much. 😁

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    • Thank you for reading, JoAn. You are a wonderful inspiration for me! I miss you and all my Mississippi friends. Hope to see you when I begin camping again in the fall. XxxOoo

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Thoughts? Don’t keep them to yourself. Love to hear!

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