Dear Rose # 34 - Use It or Lose It? A Lesson in Midlife Healing and Humility

Rose is an amalgam of us - women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who are looking for somewhere they are seen, heard and listened to.

Dear Rose,

As I got into my shiny, black VW Golf to drive out of Sydney and toward my new life in Albany in late 2012, I said to a friend, “I think I’d like to get a job as a receptionist at a chiropractic clinic.”

I had a broken foot at the time and had been receiving physical and emotional care at my local clinic in Sydney. After years in the cutthroat corporate world, I wanted to be part of something caring and community minded so a chiro clinic felt like the place. My first job in Albany was exactly that: a receptionist at a chiropractic clinic.

As a sprightly 39-year-old studying personal training, I was—silently, of course— judgmental of some of the patients. I’d see older people come in struggling to walk and think, Use it or lose it. Well, karma is a b___. Last year I tore a ligament in my knee. It took about six months to recover from daily pain, and I’m still feeling the repercussions now.

As a woman in my 50s I realise that healing is a long journey - both emotional and physical and it requires a lot of patience. I said to a friend that if I didn’t have yoga in my life I probably would have given up on the rehab altogether.

I think back to those patients now—the ones I used to watch from behind the desk. I realise now they weren't "losing it." They were doing the hardest work there is: showing up, over and over, to try again.

Love, Em xx