Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Who Decided Midlife Was Supposed to Be Boring? I’ve written before about how society expects us to shrink with age, to take up less space, and to accept “getting old.” But wait—there’s more… We’re also told that we should become more practical, more predictable, and less interested in adventure. We stop being encouraged to try things simply because they sound fun. Instead we’re congratulated for being sensible. Being sensible and...
11 days ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Maybe You Don't Fear Failure as Much as Looking Ridiculous If you ask people why they don't try new things, they'll often say they're afraid of failing. That’s how I would answer, until recently when I realized that I fail all the time. The other day I burned the eggplant into little charred bricks. I frequently forget names—even immediately after hearing them. I’ve started several projects that are now pushed back into corners away from...
25 days ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Data Is Useful. Dependency Isn’t. Wearable technology made a pretty irresistible promise: know yourself better. That’s why I bought my Oura ring almost three years ago. I hoped I’d finally be able to figure out what was causing all of the annoying and not-dire symptoms that were mostly summed up by the vague term “fatigue.” And at first, some of the insights were surprisingly eye-opening. I discovered I was getting much less deep sleep...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Don’t Mistake What You Have Been Doing for What You Can Do "I've never been athletic." "I'm not disciplined." "I'm not one of those women who likes exercise." I've heard versions of these for years. Let me be honest—I’ve said versions of them, as well. Usually they're offered as explanations, but they act more like conclusions. The statements become labels, perhaps even our personal brand. Apparently some women are naturally active,...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community “Listening to Your Body” Doesn’t Mean Letting It Off the Hook “Listen to your body” started as good advice. For a long time, many of us were encouraged to override every signal our bodies sent. Our culture urged us to push harder, wear exhaustion like a badge of honor, and walk it off when it hurt. We were told that soreness was weakness leaving the body. If you weren't suffering, apparently you weren't really trying. So “listen to your...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Your Workouts Are Teaching You Something More Important Than Strength Show of hands: Who wants to become rigid, closed off, resistant, fragile, predictable, or smaller versions of themselves? Okay. Now who wants to be comfortable all the time? Sorry. If you don’t want the first one, then you can’t have the second one—because humans adapt brilliantly. Unfortunately, we don't just adapt to challenge—we adapt to comfort too. In other words,...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Congratulations. You've Been Successfully Outsourced. By the time a woman is past forty, she’s tried at least 283 different things that are supposed to help improve her health. Okay, I completely made that number up, but it sounds feasible. Between programs, supplements, challenges, meal plans, morning routines, special equipment, color-coded accountability charts, and trackers that politely inform you that you’re even failing at...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community You Don’t Need Motivation. You Need Consequences “I just can’t find the motivation.” I’ve heard so many women say this—including myself. But I’m sure we’re all aware that nothing changes if you don’t do something different, so waiting for motivation is a problem. Motivation is utterly unreliable. It comes and goes based on sleep, stress, mood, weather, hormones, how your day went, and whether Mercury is doing something dramatic (I’ve been...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Get Stronger After 40 Join The Wonderfulness Community Strength Training Isn’t Just Empowering—It’s Required Have you noticed that strength training got rebranded over the last several years? It went from something you do for your body and health to something that’s framed as empowering. And they’re right that building strength fosters self-sufficiency and confidence. But this reframe does something else, too—and it’s not helpful. Empowerment, as it’s often presented, is aspirational. It’s...
2 months ago • 2 min read