Middle-Aged Aches & Pains...

I remember a time when my body would do just about anything I asked it to. When I was younger I was more of the "tomboy" type. I climbed trees and went on adventure through the woods. I had even gotten pretty good at shooting marbles...lol. Jumping and climbing was just part of growing up and being a kid. Then I grew up a bit. As a teenager I still was pretty active. Some of the "tomboy" in me had died down from what it was when I was a young child. But even as a teenager I remember riding bikes and falling off, still sometimes climbing trees just to look at the view and sometimes falling out of the tree. I never thought too much about it. My knees especially would get scraped and bruised up all the time. It never took me long to heal up and return to my usual activities. And there I was usually within weeks or so, repeating myself by skinning up my knees in some way or another. Then came my adult life. Being a young adult, I didn't have the same kind of time as when I was younger.

Being a women meant college, marriage, children, etc.. So I did all the things a young women does in her early 20's. I made it through school, got married, and had two children. All the while my body was healthy with no aches or pains. I started my career and worked in my field for over 20 years. I even managed to start my own business and now I work for myself. Long gone are the days of romper room playing around or climbing trees. Now, being in my middle aged years I'm starting to notice aches and pains that I never had before. I never gave my elbows, shoulders, or knees much attention when I was young. I didn't need to. I was young and healthy. Any issues I used to have with my body would soon heal and I'd be back to normal in no time. But now, I'm starting to have problems with my knees! And yes, sometimes my shoulders ache like hell! I even have problems with my fingers! At first I thought to myself that I was too young to be experiencing joint pain. This couldn't be happening! I had to do something to find out what was going on because I was beginning to ache for long periods of time.

So, I finally decided to go to the doctor and talk about my joint pain. One thing for certain is, I am old enough to have joint pain and not only that, I'm old enough to have arthritis.. In my late 40's I have arthritis already! Somehow I thought maybe when I was 60 or 70 years old I would have arthritis but not in my late 40's! And of course the doctor wants me to take medicine for the arthritis and physical therapy. But no, I don't think I'll go that route. I've been on a mission to change my life in recent years. I'm not going to do all the conventional things! I'm going to research other natural methods to deal with my arthritis. Having aches and pains is not normal for me. So now when my knees ache I'm still trying to learn how to deal with the pain. I never thought when I was younger that my body would ever ache! And now I pray to have days when I don't ache at all. Its gotten to be a normal occurrence now. I guess this is just another part of getting older. Most of the time I still feel like my ole self. So now when I ache I realize its part of life... Part of getting older!