The looming big 4-0

In a little more than 8 months from now I will turn 40. The nice thing about being the youngest person in my class all through growing up and even through college is that I see everyone turn the big 4-0 before me- although being the last one to drive and the last one to turn 21 was a little difficult. Often times women and mothers do not prioritize themselves or their health. I was going down that road this year before I decided that dammit, I'm going to be 40 and I don't want these things to bother me for years down the road when I can fix them now.

Weight

Part of that thinking is why I joined Weight Watchers. So far I am down 6 pounds which is a start. I hope that is a much bigger number by the time my birthday hits in December.

Working Out

I have also prioritized working out. It took me a bit because I was waiting for my heel to get better, but I decided that I was done with that excuse and started the Beachbody T25 workout. At first I was freaking out because I knew that I wouldn't be able to commit to doing the workout 6 days a week....normally that would have kept me from even starting the workout. However, as long as I am consistent and okay with the fact that I may not see results quite as quickly, I'm still doing the workout, just over a longer period of time. Currently I am doing the videos 4 times a week and trying my best to get 10K steps a day otherwise. I am definitely quite sore after the workouts which is a great sign. This month I also joined a 30 day pushup challenge and I've done the pushup workout every day so far this month (today is 2 sets of 20 pushups!). 

Smile

For the past few years now I have been self conscious of my smile because my teeth moved after wearing a night guard in law school. I almost had braces put back on my teeth back when we lived in CT, but then held off because we were trying to get pregnant (to no avail) and it would have required surgery. My teeth moved back for the most part, but I still have a gap between the bottom and top sets of teeth that bothers me. At my last dentist appointment, my dentist mentioned that whenever I wanted to fix the bond on my front tooth (from hitting my tooth on a tile floor when I was 5 or 6 and had just gotten my adult tooth) because it was stained, he could help me with that. I thought about it for a few weeks and decided yes, I am going to put a new bond on and have the bond length match my other front tooth. It won't completely cover the gap but it will cover some of it.

Hair

The grays in my hair have been around for a while, but more recently I have needed to dye them more often because they seem to be noticeable after only a few weeks. I will continue to prioritize that and making the time because I am not quite ready for a full head of gray hair yet. I have also found a few gray hairs in my eyebrows and pluck them immediately!

Lump

Finally, earlier this year I freaked myself out because I found a lump in my neck, sort of where an Adam's apple would be on a man. I got it checked out because after consulting WebMD it could have been something wrong with my thyroid, but thankfully it is a cyst. I'm not sure WHY my body produces all of these random cysts and for about a week or two I was adamant about not doing anything about it because I was afraid of a scar on my neck (I have a big scar on my back from removal of another, larger cyst). However, the cyst isn't going away and I'm starting to see it in pictures. It is only going to get bigger so it's time to get it removed and hopefully the scar won't be too big.

So there you have it. I'm doing my best to start my 40s with my best foot forward!