Hanging On...

In the mornings, I have a routine. I take my morning elixir (lemon water with a squirt of bitters to flush my liver), jump in the shower, get out, blast some tunes and dance around. I dance my way back into the washroom and begin blow drying my hair. Contorting my arm in ways that should put me in a circus freak show, I saw something this morning that was absolutely terrifying. No, not a spider, a roach or centipede...ladies...I noticed an inkling of fat back.

(music stops)

Now before you think, how vain, understand that whether we're petite or trying to fit into a size 8 pair of jeans, we all have something about ourselves that we wish we could improve. All of us have our moments, and this was mine.

Dropping my blow dryer just missing my toe, I quickly grabbed my iPhone and sent a text to Priscilla: Since when can I even pinch an inch on my back? I didn't have this in my twenties! Oh God, I'm developing fat back!

As I stood there staring back at myself in the mirror, I leaned forward and squinted my eyes and saw...wrinkles. With the blow dryer laying on the ground looking debilitated, I received my sister's reply: You're in your 30's now girl! Now it's all about hard work! Ahh the 20's...I remember them well.

Which begs the question, is it really unrealistic to hang onto our twenties?

Looking back up to the mirror in disbelief, something can over me. Complete obsession. Now I know this all sounds a little dramatic, but when you realize that your body is changing, you have a mini freak out. And voici mon amis, this was mine. Staring into the mirror I lifted my arms and began to shake them. Holy shit, there's a slight jiggle. Now I'm not talking about jiggles that create wind, but a little flutter occurred. Mortified, I ran into my bedroom, looked into the full length mirror, and began to shake my legs too. Again, a little flutter. Before I realized, I was standing in front of my mirror fully naked shaking my limbs like a child throwing a tantrum...but wait, I'm an adult...I think.

Realizing how ridiculous I looked, I walked back to the washroom (music begins again), picked up the blowdryer (that was still on) and continued drying my hair. Push on girl, push on...

Before this episode, I was already a little late, but now it was GO time folks. Doing a half ass job on my hair and leaving reminence of mascara on my eyelids, I ran into the kitchen panicked and looked around like I was ready to tackle someone. I can't leave and not eat. Feed me kitchen. Feeeeeed meeeee. So quickly grabbing my hand blender, I thought, what would be more appropriate than a shake? Yes...pun intended.

MORNING YUMMY RUSH SHAKE
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 organic banana
1 tbsp almond butter
1 scoop of hemp protein powder
1 tsp cinammon
1 tsp maca powder
1 tbsp flax, or hemp oil
1 tsp bee pollen

Put everything in a hand blender and blend at high speed. Top with a little bit of cinammon and done!

When making a shake, never put ice because Chinese Nutrition Therapy states that the stomach doesn't like cold. In fact, it kills the digest fire and weakens it. You'll see that I've added cinammon powder which is used to control blood sugar and warm up the general thermal property of the shake.

The other two ingredients you might be wondering about is maca and hemp protein powder. Maca, a root grown high in the Andes where nothing else survives is amazing for helping us adapt to stress. In Chinese Nutrition Therapy, maca tonifies the kidney energy thereby helping with sexual energy...now we're talking. However, while I don't need help in that department, my body need help withstanding stress from work, school and the productive stress of working out.

Hemp on the other hand is probably one of my favourite proteins if I'm using it for a morning shake. It not only has similar proteins found in the human body, but it also has approximately 8 grams of fibre which separates itself from a lot of other proteins out there. This bad boy will keep you full. Not to mention, it has essential fats (although I've added flax here too) and is a source of chlorophyll which helps purify the blood.

Throwing my shake into my travel tin, I ran onto the streetcar which glided on the track towards school. Finally having a moment to sit with my morning I began to think about my twenties.

I changed careers three, no, four times...

I backpacked and travelled through South America and saw an inkling of Europe years later...

I had tumultuous relationships...

I partied a lot...

I went through some bizarre phases...I mean really...goth??

I met someone, stayed with him for five years and got engaged...

I bought a home in the suburbs with my then-fiance...

I forgot about friends...

And then got freaked out, left my fiance, sold the house and moved back to the city...

As it turns out, my twenties were all about trial and error.

Arriving at school, I caught up with Tina on break and told her about my freak out. Scoffing at me, Tina looked me up and down and said with a smile, honey, if YOU have fat back, then my back needs a training bra.

Laughing to the point of almost busting a rib, I realized that Tina had just taught me a valuable lesson. While there's always room for self-improvement, we also have to love and find humor in ourselves. That way, we can be a little sunnier and not find ourselves shaking naked in front of the mirror.

Then I think about my twenties versus my thirties again and why it's so easy for us to want to hang on. Is it the body? The wrinkle-free skin? Well, despite a little flutter (which can easily be remedied with a good run coupled with some yell-at-me hip hop), I like the fact that I'm curvy because it makes me feel like a woman. As for the wrinkles...those lines give me character and to be honest, I kind of like them. Sure, there are noticeable difference within our bodies as we get older, but I'm beginning to realize that coming into my own and becoming a stronger, more confident woman, far outweighs those changes. So when it comes down to it, the person we were in our twenties is certainly not who we are today...and would you really want to be?

I mean really...did I mention goth??