A Year to Replenish

January 1, 2022 · 4 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Last winter seemed like a time to reassess and recalibrate, setting aside whatever did not work well. I chose Alignment as a word of intention. My New Year’s resolution was to pay more attention to mental chatter and to avoid indulging any useless negativity that showed up.

In retrospect, it was a success—but it felt like a very long, exhausting slog. My husband hired an online rowing coach, Christine Cavallo, to create weekly training plans for us. They were good plans; we improved our fitness and rowed much faster at the regattas. It was a bit of a shock to my system, though, because I hadn’t trained nearly as hard in the past. I had thought of myself as reasonably fit, but I found out that I had a lot of space for improvement.

As the year went on, all sorts of negative thoughts bubbled up, along the lines of being overburdened and totally drained of energy. The training plans didn’t in fact take up huge amounts of time, but I felt that I had no time to myself because I wasn’t used to my days being so regimented. I felt that I was constantly rushing from work to rowing to dinner and then falling into bed exhausted, with no time or mental energy to even think about anything else.

I knew those feelings were unhealthy and I needed to put things in better perspective, but that was easier said than done. No matter what I told myself, each day still felt like a struggle. It wasn’t until late in the year, after the rowing season ended, that I realized the training regimen had brought stressful emotions to the surface from many years ago. They came from a time when I felt that I was being pushed far beyond my tolerance but had to soldier on anyway.

When I recognized those feelings for what they were, I didn’t feel as troubled by them. Instead, I realized that there are plenty of ways to organize my time without being in a rush and that I am entirely capable of doing it. My resolution for 2022, I decided, should be to welcome life’s flow, in all its beauty and abundance, and allow it to replenish my energy naturally.

Small waterfall in a forest.

I did an online workout on the Hydrow rowing machine this morning and went over 6 million lifetime meters. The instructor gave me a nice shout-out for my accomplishment, and I started the day feeling pretty good. Although this is still the off-season for rowing, soon it will be time to start another training plan to build fitness for the 2022 regattas, which are not that far away.

This year, I won’t let it stress me. Instead, I’ll go with the flow, looking for ways to make each day fun!

Holiday Surprise (Nurturing Thursday)

December 30, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Last week, our daughter and son-in-law drove to Florida to visit his sister, who recently had a baby. My husband and I expected that they’d stop at our house on the way back to their home in Cleveland, sometime over the New Year’s weekend.

It was a great surprise when, instead, our daughter showed up on Christmas Eve. She put her little dog in a pet carrier and got on a plane. I hadn’t yet wrapped her presents, which were still sitting on the basement floor, so had to hurry up and get them under the tree.

Although we didn’t have any holiday parties this year, it feels like one anyway! So wonderful to have a loving family. Wishing all the best to my readers in 2022!

Word-art that says "Holiday party."

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

A World Growing Older

December 30, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags: , ,

Last week I read Empty Planet, a book about the modern world’s falling birthrates. The authors believe that having only one or two children is becoming a worldwide norm and, as a result, they expect global population will peak soon and then drop sharply for the foreseeable future. The trend of moving to the cities will continue. After a while, almost everyone will live in large metropolitan areas, while leaving the rest of the planet to revert to wilderness. People won’t dream of having a peaceful cabin in the woods anymore.


Some of that makes sense to me, but I have to disagree with the authors to the extent they predict young people will have a lower standard of living because of supporting a large elderly population. That’s based on the stereotype that older folks don’t buy much (thus dragging down a consumer economy), don’t produce much, lack creative thought, and generally can’t do much of anything.

Although it’s a fact that many present-day seniors live on a small budget and don’t buy much, either for fear of running out of money or simply because of long-standing habits of frugality, I wouldn’t assume it has to be that way forever. Rather, I expect it to change along with everything else. Many retirees couldn’t save much during their working years because wages were flat for decades. Those who could invest weren’t getting much of a return on their money. Middle-aged workers were likely to get laid off because of automation and offshoring, which forced them to spend what meager savings they had. With jobs being scarce, employers were picky, and finding a new job after a layoff wasn’t easy.

Now we’re starting to see the first glimmerings of what a world with persistent labor shortages will look like. Because young workers are in short supply, companies are having to rely more on middle-aged employees. Many of those employees, however, feel like they’ve had enough of the rat race after years of being taken for granted and getting tiny pay raises and minimal perks. They’ve noticed that the stock market is way up—which is not surprising, given the obvious fact that the money saved by being so stingy with the workers has been going to the shareholders. People who have stock funds in their retirement accounts are now realizing that they can afford to retire sooner than anticipated.

Companies are frantically automating whatever they can, but they’re discovering that robots are not staying ahead of retirements. Robots do, however, save costs, allowing companies to earn reasonable profits even if they are understaffed. Those profits go to shareholders, the stock market climbs higher, and then more workers can afford to retire and live happily ever after on their stock earnings, even if they’re not yet old enough to draw Social Security payments. We’re in a loop that just keeps feeding on itself.

Of course, it’s possible that a major economic calamity might put an end to the party; but if COVID-19 couldn’t do it, then what would? Stocks may not rise as quickly for the next few years because companies will be forced to give meaningful pay raises to retain their long-term employees. The financial markets will still be in good shape, though, because ongoing automation will keep corporate profits up. Employees with bad memories of having been treated like beasts of burden will keep on retiring in large numbers—and because of low birthrates, every year there will be fewer new workers to replace them.

I expect that by 2030 or thereabouts, we’re going to see an economy the likes of which has never existed. Chronically short-staffed companies will be doing all they can to persuade retirees to come back to work. That’s going to be a hard sell because most retirees won’t need the money, so employers will need to find creative ways to make the work more pleasant. Meanwhile, higher salaries will enable young people to be choosy about their jobs. I predict that in the not-so-distant future, most people will work because they enjoy what they are doing, not because they are desperate to pay the bills. The world will become calmer and more peaceful as we leave behind all that stress—and I expect we’ll buy plenty of new, fun, mostly robot-made consumer goods, both for ourselves and for the small number of grandchildren we may have.

Love & Family (Nurturing Thursday)

December 23, 2021 · 2 comments · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Things have been rather hectic in my house this week, but that’s okay. Christmas lights are twinkling, I have family who love me, and that is all I really need in the moment. Wishing merry days to all!


Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

How Slowly (Nurturing Thursday)

December 18, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Posting a blog entry for Nurturing Thursday late on a Saturday afternoon is definitely the slowest I’ve ever been! I had planned to write a post on Thursday after work, as usual; but after I got some exercise and took a shower, it was late enough that I decided to cook dinner first. And after that, I sat down at the computer, only to discover it wasn’t working.

We have another home computer, but my husband has been using it for a remote connection to his work computer since he started working from home last year. His company had a software release scheduled for Friday, so he was doing some last-minute bug fixes. I was starting to get sleepy anyway, so decided I might as well just go to bed and let it wait. That turned out to be a rather long wait because my husband bought new motherboards for both computers and upgraded them to Windows 11, which was a good thing to do, but wasn’t finished until today.

Of course, I could’ve gotten up early on Friday to write a post on the other computer before my husband got up, but it didn’t seem worth sacrificing sleep to write something that was already late. And besides, Nurturing Thursday is mainly about taking care of oneself, which includes being well rested and not rushing around. Slow and steady made more sense!


Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

One Friend (Nurturing Thursday)

December 9, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Once upon a time, my workgroup had a tradition of weekly emails with positive word-art to keep up team morale. They were fun, and we had a friendly, cheerful group for many years. As time went by, though, some people retired while others got busier, and the weekly emails ended.

When I thought about it recently, it occurred to me that the emails were very much like my Nurturing Thursday posts, and that I could start a new tradition. So, this morning I sent out a Nurturing Thursday email to my coworkers, featuring one of the word-art images that I put into a blog entry last month, along with a brief explanation of the history.

I am hoping this will encourage more positivity and self-nurturing among my coworkers. Of course, I can’t know for sure what will happen; but sometimes a few kind words from a friend can go much farther than we imagine. Anyway, I’d like to think so.

Word-art that says "One friend can change your whole life."

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Winter Wonders (Nurturing Thursday)

December 2, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

Although my daughter always blows in like a whirlwind when she visits, we found time over Thanksgiving weekend to put up the Christmas tree together. This week has been warmer than usual, and it probably will be a while before it gets cold enough for snow. Still, just seeing the tree with all its lights, ornaments, and family memories gives the days more winter cheer.

Winter word-art images in a frame.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Season of Gratitude (Nurturing Thursday)

November 25, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

I have to admit, I didn’t do much for Thanksgiving dinner this year. My husband and I didn’t feel like cooking a big turkey dinner, and our daughter has to work and can’t be here until Saturday. Still, it will be good to have the family together, even if it is not on the actual day. What matters is being grateful for all our blessings and for being in the world together.

Word-art with Thanksgiving words like "grateful" and "blessed."

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

Trotting into the Future

November 25, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags: , ,

This morning I ran the Turkey Trot, which has become a family tradition; we’ve done it for almost 20 years. Before we started the race, I told my husband that I was just going to take it easy. I still felt somewhat tired and achy from training so hard to get in better shape for rowing at regattas, and also from sitting in the car for hours on long road trips to those regattas. It was a good year—we both had much better rowing speed and endurance, and we won more medals. There’s no doubt our online coach, Christine Cavallo, did an excellent job of improving our fitness; but it was exhausting.

My husband ran next to me all through the Turkey Trot and set what I thought was a nice steady pace. I had no trouble keeping up with him and did not feel tired. As we got close to the end of the race, I thanked him for being my “pace car” for a comfortable race. He was being kind, I thought, in staying with me instead of running on ahead, when he would have preferred a faster pace. I felt that I was slowing him down and that I was not putting much energy into the race.

We ran the five-mile course in 49 minutes. Then I made sure to walk around for a while to cool down, although it was raining and there was a chilly wind. It wasn’t until after we got home, when I started looking online at past results, that I realized this was my best time ever for the Turkey Trot. There had been years when I got close to 50 minutes, but never below it. I also felt pretty good after the race; the cool-down walk was good for keeping my joints loose, and I did not seem to have any new aches or stiffness afterward.

As far as I can tell, whatever tiredness I still have is more mental than physical. I’ve read about research studies that suggest the brain is always subconsciously calculating how much effort to put into each activity. This can cause feelings of exhaustion not because the body is in fact overworked, but rather because brain circuitry detects a risk of overexertion and sends a “this could be too much, it’s time to slow down” warning. I’m guessing that those risk-detection circuits got put on heightened alert when I exercised much more this year than in the past.

So, I’ve been left with a few questions: How do I update my body image to match my improved fitness level? What amount of rest do I need to (1) actually keep my body well rested, and (2) persuade those Nervous Nellie brain circuits that everything is fine now and I’m not on the brink of collapse? And, on top of all that, how do I sort out what’s true and what’s not in the cultural messages about slowing down with age?

After considering it for a while, I decided to ask Fannie, my imaginary 119-year-old future self, for advice. Fannie is short for Fantastically Adventurous, and I envision her traveling a much-changed world in her trusty flying car (named Hildegarde) while staying healthy and full of energy.

She wasn’t in the car when I created a mental picture of her, though. Instead, she was walking beside a river on a sunny autumn day. As usual, her robot poodle, Maxie, trotted along with her. Maxie gave a friendly, welcoming yip when I appeared on the scene. Fannie smiled and motioned toward two chairs overlooking the river, which looked like a good place for a conversation.

Photo of two chairs facing a river.

(Photo credit: Elizabeth Wallace)

We settled ourselves comfortably in the chairs, with Maxie at our feet. Although the breeze coming off the river felt just a bit chilly in the shade, both of us were dressed warmly enough that it didn’t bother us at all.

“I seem to have gotten my subconscious mind in a bit of a tangle,” I confessed. “Although my fitness is better than in past years, I’ve been feeling that I am more vulnerable and need to be careful with myself. I have been wondering what you do to avoid such worries. You always look so confident, about your health and everything else. Do you ever feel like this?”

Fannie considered the question, gazing out over the river as a few leaves drifted slowly by in the current. Reddish-gold reflections danced across the water’s smooth surface.

“Those feelings used to be part of what was called a midlife crisis,” she observed, “way back before people started living long enough that the idea of midlife lost its definition. But yes, however it might be described now, I still have such worries in the back of my mind. No matter how much the world changes, we can’t ever get completely away from the culture we grew up in. Medical science has advanced enough that it is now possible to be healthy at a much older age than mine, but still, there are moments when I feel as if I’m living on borrowed time.”

She reached down to pat Maxie’s furry black head.

“I wouldn’t really say that I avoid those worries,” she concluded. “They’re just going to come up at times. What helps, I’ve found, is to give the mind more possibilities to explore, so that it can keep on expanding its maps instead of simply assuming things must be the way they’ve always been.”

Kind to Self (Nurturing Thursday)

November 18, 2021 · Write a comment · Categories: Musings · Tags:

I rowed well on Saturday, as did my husband; we were much faster than two years ago, both in the double and in singles. Afterward, though, I felt totally drained of energy, as if the stress and exhaustion of a long training plan and competing in so many regattas had caught up with me all at once.

Even after coming home, I still felt tired all week. This morning I woke up feeling better rested, but that energy did not last through the afternoon. I had to remind myself that I worked harder to improve my rowing than in past years, so it was only natural that I would need some time to rest and recover. Instead of getting frustrated about not bouncing back instantly, I should give myself more kindness and understanding.

Word-art that says "You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head. Be kind to yourself."

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

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