This is Keep GLOWing podcast, Episode 1.
Before diving into health & beauty specifics I wanted to pull back the curtain and reveal what’s exactly behind the Keep GLOWing concept.
Keep GLOWing is a manifesto and a call to action for every GLOW’rious woman out there, striving to stay vital and healthy no matter her age.
This podcast is my way of encouraging you to live as if you are the main character of your life.
In our 40's we reach a major life turning point where we are forced to recognize that we don’t have all the time in the world.
Most of us will take an inventory of the goals we achieved in the first part of our life; and find that we have defined our self-worth and ourselves mainly by external material things.
There is also a distortion in our sense of time. We somehow find ourselves between the end of growing up and the beginning of growing old.
This may stimulate an inner crisis (some call it ‘the midlife crisis’ or ‘the crisis of meaning’).
*In the end it’s the halfway mark. *
No gong rings, of course. But deep down a change begin to register in those gut-level perceptions of safety and danger, time and no time, aliveness and stagnation, self and others.
For most of us this passage will probably trigger a search for meaning.
And even if we don’t like it, facing our shadows is absolutely necessary.
Every loose end not resolved in previous years will somehow resurface to haunt us.
We basically run into our own resistance.
Some of us will think it’s too late to start something new while others will want to move mountains or pursue an earlier passion... from writing to painting or... simply reviving abandoned dreams of playing a musical instrument.
The meridian in our life is the point in which we re-examine how we are going to spend our resources from now. We realize that there is also a downside to life, a back of the mountain.
It’s like the continuity of the life cycle is somehow interrupted.
No matter how sound the state of our health and our social status, we also become intensely preoccupied with the visible signs of aging and premature doom.
Sailing from one activity to another is not the best option anymore. Suddenly having a stronger body, enjoying a rich sexual life, celebrating bigger accomplishments, more friends or higher salaries is not the same as before.
Aging accelerates at 40 so we notice the first cracks in our physical shells around this age.
I call this ‘the mirror moment’.
And… even tough we try our best to avoid looking and want to turn away from the mirror we cannot escape seeing the changes in our friends, children or parents.
Our teenage children are preparing to leave the nest while we look to our parents for comfort and find they have weakened.
Your mood swings up and down. You make a joke at yourself about moving like an old grandma. But deep down you don’t believe it, of course.
The loss of youth, the weakened physical powers we have always taken for granted, the fading purpose of stereotyped roles by which we have identified ourselves so far… any or all of these shocks can throw us into a crisis.
For me celebrating the midlife passage was a strong heart shaking experience. It took me a few months, some of the great mentors on the Planet and lots of ME time to find out who I want to be on the other side of the meridian.
Eventually I came out of the crisis with a redefined purpose and a fresh new perspective about life.
This is exactly how the Keep GLOWing came to be.
I dream to live in a world where every single woman decides to move forward and love herself unconditionally no matter her age, look or status. She basically decides to keep glowing no matter what.
- She keeps glowing because she made peace with herself and her bodies.
- She keeps glowing because she knows she is worthy of her own time, attention, affection, kindness, focus and love before giving all these precious currencies to everyone else. She knows that no one is going to do this for her and no one is making her a priority for her in her life.
- She keeps glowing because she is putting herself first. She is her no #1 thing on her to do list every single day … without feeling guilty or selfish.
- She keeps glowing because she takes the time to invest in herself every single day
- She keeps glowing because she knows no one is going to rescue her but herself
- She keeps glowing because she knows everyday is a gift and today she is the youngest she will ever be in her life
- She keeps glowing because she matters and the way she feels every day matter.
- She keeps glowing because she understands self care is self love
- She keeps glowing because she can look in the mirror and say: Wow, I love you … even though I treated you so badly and compared you against other women.
- She keeps glowing because she understands that the most important relationship in the world is the relationship she has with herself. And once that relationship is sorted out everything else come into place.
AND ULTIMATELY… SHE KEEPS GLOWING BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T NEED A BIG BIRTHDAY TO RECEIVE A WAKE-UP CALL.
If we start believing that it’s never too late for a new chapter, moving through uncertainty, taking the risk of change and making a leap of growth is beyond rewarding.
It requires some mastery but will also add meaning to our life.
The better we understand how to navigate life’s challenges the more resilient we become.
So let’s GLOW and shed that shell and celebrate the beginning of a new passage.
