Many of us have pelvic floor "issues" that become more distressing as we get older. Having babies, lower estrogen and other factors contribute to those wonderful symptoms. In 2014, I had my uterus removed because it was trying to fall out, or at least it felt like it. Now I feel like my bladder is trying to follow. This year I decided it was time to do something about it and I thought I would share my journey (most of it anyway) to offer support to those of you who may be experiencing similar issues. We mostly hear about the urine leakage when we sneeze or cough and there's other issues too. Bowel issues like incomplete emptying are not fun either. We are told to use pads to take care of it but we all know that isn't a fix. I started physical therapy last week and do daily exercises which don't feel like they are doing much yet but I'm hopeful. I do "bridges" and leg lifts and daily walking. That's it. My therapist, Brooke, says she doesn't want me to put in more than 30 minutes a day on this and I appreciate that. I am not the most motivated person when it comes to exercise but knowing that it will help me avoid surgery is helpful. So that's what I have for this week. I will be going to my next appointment next week and will share any tidbits I think will be helpful. By the way, I was curious about how they assess women for this and while it's mostly by symptoms, they can do an internal assessment. Brooke told me what that was like and gave me the option and let me know it was OK to decline, which I did. I am choosing to see if the exercises she gives me help and if not, will reconsider.

It's way past time to get this group active again! As I am creating and holding my workshops, I am going to use this group as a place to interact with those who are in the workshops or interested in what we talk about. Stay tuned for more of that topic 😉 I thought it also might be helpful to share a topic with you all that not many women talk about openly: pelvic floor issues. I have been having problems in this area for a few years now and finally decided to do something about it. That "something" is physical therapy to start with the goal of alleviating my symptoms. Maybe sharing my journey will help someone else get help for something that so many of us experience. Many times we are told that it's something that we can expect with the understanding that we cannot do anything about it except wear pads. That's not good enough for me, how about you? So stay tuned for more. I'm going to make a separate category so these posts are easier to find.

I readily admit that I have been away from this group and Skool in general and it's my fault that things have dwindled down to nothing. I would like to change that though :) A recent Facebook incident reminded me that it's too easy to be hacked or duplicated without your knowledge. This group was born out of that need to get away from social media a bit because there are no algorithms or ads. I will be posting in this group and coming up with some ideas that will help all of us travel this midlife journey. Who's in?

Here's a link to a blog post about the latest Midlife with Courage™ podcast episode: https://www.midlifewithcourage.com/post/embracing-midlife-a-heartfelt-conversation-with-dr-sue-mccreadie

One of the "aha" moments in this conversation was when Dr. Sue McCreadie realized that she was helping midlife women rediscover their inner child so to speak. This was a bit of irony as she is a practicing pediatrician who is winding down her career. Get it? This was just one of many great insights we discovered as we talked about her journey with career, miscarriages and life as a midlife woman. Have you listened yet? Listen HERE