Hands

Hi all! This week, there are many interesting writing prompts in the Writer’s Workshop. I am choosing to write about ways my body has changed as I’ve gotten older.

I’m now 38 and I consider this an age at which positive changes can still happen. That is, of course you’re never too old to start a healthier lifestyle, but at a certain age, I assume it will not have as much effect as when you’re younger. In fact, I’ve heard that smokers have until age 35 to quit or their lungs will never be as healthy as those of non-smokers. Thank goodness I’ve never smoked.

In my case, my thirties so far were the decade of getting healthier in many ways. At age 30, I weighed 80kg (176lbs), which is over 20kg overweight for my height. I slowly started losing weight then and got to 55kg )121lbs) last year. Since then, I’ve gained some weight back on, but I’m barely 1kg overweight now at 59kg. I agreed with my dietitian that I should not gain any more weight, but the 55kg I weighed last year is also the lower border of my goal weight.

Weight aside, I got slightly fitter. When I weighed 80kg, my spouse proposed we do a brisk walk for just over half an hour each day to get the weight off, but I could barely do fifteen minutes. Now I must say I don’t usually walk as fast as that brisk walk should’ve been, but then again I couldn’t keep up with my spouse back then either and now I can walk for an hour sometimes.

I do feel that my flexibility and strength have decreased a bit. Not that I ever was flexible or strong at all. In fact, my spouse jokes that a brick is more flexible than me. However, when we tried a game of Twister at the home recently, I noticed I was hardly able to stand on all fours even in a simple position. I’m pretty sure I used to be able to do this.

My mobility also has slightly decreased. I fall when I wear anything other than my orthopedic shoes. I also used to think my shoes get damage a lot easier from the way I walk. That is until I recently looked at the shoes I wore at my wedding and saw these were damaged too just from one day.

When I got married, I was 25 and about at the weight I’m now at. I recently tried on my wedding dress just for the fun of it. The skirt fit, but the top was too tight.

With respect to appearance, I’m told I haven’t changed much over the years. That is, my spouse found my first grey hair when I was 31 and I now have quite a few, but my hair still looks dark overall. I don’t have many wrinkles either. In fact, it feels as though my frown wrinkle has decreased. That probably isn’t possible, so maybe I’m just not bothered by it as much as I used to be. I’m also grateful to report that my hands, which are among the body parts I feel most positive about, are still pretty smooth.

Overall, I don’t think there’s been an age at which I was happier with my body than now. That is, I do get frustrated with my impaired mobility and flexibility. However, when I was thirty, I was probably less fit overall and I wasn’t happy with my appearance at all. Now I feel content enough with my body to wear nice clothes and occasionally jewelry. I in fact reserve my loose-fitting sweaters and fleece vests for when I’m sick now.

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SoCS) is “body parts”. I could of course write about how I’m scared for my abdominal X-ray this coming Tuesday and share all the details about my tummy ailments, but I’m not going to. After all, Lindda has asked us to warn our fellow SoCS participants if a post is NSFW and I generally don’t write that type of posts on my blog anyway. So, I’m going with another body part: my hands.

After all, what’s been worrying me most is that my abdominal complaints will be something serious, like cancer or the like. And if they’re cancer, that I’ll die. Or need to go on chemo. And if I’d need to go on chemo, I’d lose my nails. Not that I mind my nails that much in the sense that I like to polish them or whatever. I bite them like crazy, in fact. But I’d like to keep the function of my fingers please. So, with those scary thoughts out of the way (I hope writing them down doesn’t make them come true), I’m going to write about why I appreciate my hands.

Some staff say I have piano fingers. I can’t play the piano to save my life, but what they mean is that my fingers are relatively long and thin. I like that. They allow me to type on my laptop keyboard with relative ease. I used to make a lot of typeos. Not anymore. I don’t know why.

My fingers also allow me to read Braille. I don’t read traditional Braille books or paper anymore, but I do read a lot on my Braille display. If I lost my nails, I’m pretty sure I’d no longer be able to read braille, because, well, even if I could still feel the Braille dots with my fingertips (assuming they wouldn’t need to be covered in band aids or something), I guess my Braille display wouldn’t like all the stuff coming from my exposed nailbeds. Oh, is that NSFW?

Besides my fingers, my hands allow me to touch all kinds of textures. I love my large collection of stuffed animals, all with their different feels to their fur. I also love my two fleece blankets, one I got in my Christmas package from my old day center and one the day activities group with the sensory room bought for me so I had my own blanket to cover myself when going into it.

One exercise I used to do when trying to stay present when I’d often dissociate (not that I don’t dissociate anymore, but I find it harder to do the exercise), is to touch various objects in my surroundings and describe them as objectively as I can. Then, after I’ve named some characteristics of the object, I name the object itself.

My hands allow me to hold onto my white cane and onto someone’s arm when walking. I might find a way to walk sighted guide if I lost my hand function, but I still appreciate my hands for what they do for me now.

What do you like about your hands?

How My Body Has Changed As I Got Older

My Hands #SoCS