Dear Reader

Update for New Adventures :)

I wrote last time about some of the health trials of 2025. This newsletter continues the theme with some of the ponderings from the last two weeks.

I am happy to share that I've had x-rays that have revealed I have degenerative arthritis in my lower spine and in the rght side of the sacroiliac joint.

This new diagnosis of "degenerative arthritis" is thrilling in a way. I'm exploring what the medical research says about treatments, deciding which ones I want to try and which ones I will leave aside. I visit my doctor today and I'll be discussing with her what she considers the best options.

In the meantime, the advice I've researched is to move a lot more than I have been able to lately. And, in following that advice, the pain has subsided.

I'm curious to find what else I can do to alleviate the impact of this disease. I'm reading Plant Powered Plus by Dr Will Bulsiewicz - a book that's given me insight into the inflammation of arthritis and other 'age-related' diseases.

Reflections on the aging process

A greater part of my current life is understanding this adventure into aging. Looking back, I realise I've rarely felt old. I've never thought of myself as being old. I think this is true of us all. My thoughts are of my younger self. I remember when I went to university in my mid 30s I would totally forget my age when talking with other students. Then I'd look into the mirror when I went to the toilet. I'd get a shock - "Is that really me? I look so old!" It was indeed a shock.

And here I find myself doing the same thing in my 70s. I go to the gym and do my workout amongst folk of different ages and I don't really think of how old I am.

But this last year has brought it home to me: My body is showing signs of aging.

Should we prepare our mindset for an aging body?

What would I say to my 35 year old self? Or myself in my 40s, or 50s, or 60s? Would I then be able to make a difference to the way I handled the different stages of aging?

Would menopause (in all its stages) have been any different? Could I have prepared myself mentally to understand and allow for the tendency to shuffle my feet and not lift them over the hazards on the footpaths. Could I have saved myself from the falls? Would I have gone to the gym class for older folk earlier than I did? Would I know that to be prepared would save me from the falls, teach me how to recover my balance before I fell? Would I have gone to gymnastic classes with my daughter and learned these skills in my 30s?

This year I've realised that I am physically less able to enjoy the adventures of the past. Could I have prepared myself to be aware, at least, of the physical limitations that come even though the mental awareness is still agile and full of ferocious curiosity, even more so than when I was younger?

I don't honestly know. Maybe it's part of the human condition. Maybe it's just the paradox of getting older. What I do know though is: I have become more accepting of the unexpectedness of aging. I'm planning to enjoy as much of life as I can experience, both physically and mentally.

Certainly there are a lot of quotes that show that others have been thinking similarly.

• Meryl Streep: "Aging is not for the weak. One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste, and the need to please... Aging means letting go, it means accepting, it means discovering that beauty was never in our skin... but in the story we carry inside us".
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• Ingrid Bergman: "Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better!"
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• Albert Camus: "The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young" (referring to the young heart inside a breaking body).

Definitely these quotes give me something to think about. Still, I can't help thinking that they are quotes from the perspective of hindsight. I'd like to have found a bit of wisdom I can share that will prepare me (us) for the next stage of life.

I don't think it's findable. If I'm pressed to give some words of advice from my experience, this is what I'd say.

• Be gentle on yourself.
• Don't believe the stories you tell yourself that berate yourself for not being able to keep up as time passes.
• Don't put it down to inattention or deficiency that you can work yourself out of.
• Keep up your yearly doctor health checks.
• Keep interested in people and activities that give you joy.
• Remember love is the only emotion worth fostering: love of self, family, friends, nature, and every other person who shares the planet with us.
• Remember that as the body slows, your enjoyment turns to equally important things. It's just up to you to find what things are important to you.
• Build memories at every stage of life. Memories of a younger self and of the people who spiced your life are the most precious.

I actually don't think Albert Camus had it right. I don't think old age inherently holds tragedies. Nurturing my young heart has become my life's work. I may live to be over 100 as I've long planned - or not. But I will LIVE a joyful, loving life as long as my body has breath, regardless of the challenges the outer shell present me.

Again, as January draws to a close, here's to an amazing 2026 for us all - regardless of the downs we may face, may we all find those little things that brings us joy and love this year.

With love,
Stephanie

Why I Write - for you and for me too.

Some stories come from lived experience, like navigating my son’s addiction and the long road of recovery. Others are shaped by imagination, like the cozy mystery I’m writing, set in a small café where trust is both tested and rebuilt. Some of my life stories still bring tears. Others make me smile. And many are filled with memories that warm my heart.

I write for anyone who’s ever carried a burden across generations, and for anyone who longs to heal forward.

My thoughts for Living Life in 2026 and beyond:

"My religion is kindness"

Dalai Lama

“Cast your bread upon the waters and it will
come back - buttered”

Doris May Payne - my mother

"Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing"

Helen Keller

“Write it on my heart that every day is
the best day of the year”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Remember that sometimes not getting
what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck"
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Dalai Lama

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave [person] is not [the one] who does not feel afraid, but [the one] who conquers that fear.”

Nelson Mandela

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www.StephanieHammondAuthor.com

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