looking at the other side

Lately it feels like I've been writing exclusively about all the changes menopause and aging have brought about. And, to be honest, while I'm working towards acceptance, deep down that's not always the case. I could do without the deep grooves permanently chiseled between my eyebrows and the hair sprouting on my body where it hasn't been before. I could go on and on about things I've noticed, not too happily. 

But today I thought I'd write about how some things aren't changing at all. Or perhaps are actually getting better. 

I was in a kick-your-ass yoga class yesterday. From beginning to end it was almost 2 hours of heart pounding, sweat soaking, music blaring insanity. I moved so fast from pose to pose it felt like the step classes I used to be addicted to. 

My balance never wavered. My concentration never broke. I even held arm balances, even if only for a second or two, that is never been able to before. 

Standing in the front row, the word ALIVE staring back at  me from a mural, I silently thanked my body for being strong, for healing well, for rising up to challenge. Tears stung my eyes as I acknowledged that not everything is changing. Except, perhaps, feeling gratitude more and more easily.