I started to have hot flashes at the age of 47. I had no idea what was happening and left work because I thought I had some strange kind of flu with a spiking fever. Once I realized what it was, I went into total denial, told no one, even lied about it once to a friend, and if I had to refer to it at all to myself, I just called it “M” and quickly moved on.

My real interest in aging, though, came a couple years later when I moved to Florida. (And by the way, hot flashes in Florida are no joke.) At the time, I worked for a high-end gym and one of the members was named Nikki (*not her real name). Nikki was a very cool lady. Tough. An attorney. In her 50’s. She worked out hard and hid visual signs of her aging well. Plus she lived in Miami where you can easily access multiple ways of hiding your visual signs of aging well. One day, Nikki and I were standing off to the side of the gym floor, chatting. She said something along the lines of, “You know what really sucks? None of the trainers here understand how to work with an older woman. It's so much harder now than it was when I was younger.”  And what she said was true. The gym I worked at was a high end, nationally known gym that was recognized for its beautiful, often celebrity, members and its equally beautiful trainers. There was very little acknowledgement of life after 35 and…aging just wasn't sexy. From that moment on, I knew I had to make a difference for women like Nikki…and me.

Since my conversation with Nikki, I have discovered that more and more women are looking for ways to transcend this time in their lives, to not feel lesser than or invisible, but, rather, empowered within the aging process. A few years ago, after seeing a cute outfit in a store window and questioning if I could (still) wear it, I made the decision to think of myself as ageless. I’m pretty sure that was the moment I fully embraced the Badass. No longer would I limit myself with what I could or couldn’t wear, how long I could wear my hair, or any other rules that some old dude somewhere or some judgmental 25-year-old author of a what-not-to-wear-over-the-age-of-whatever article, wanted to invoke on those of us of a certain age. Instead, I decided to break those rules and step even more intentionally into my own life and style.

The journey through this decision has been entirely freeing. Because the thing is when we make certain choices around lifestyle, our quality of life improves along with our health. We feel more energetic and less lethargic, more peaceful and less stressed out, more clear-minded and less foggy-headed, more purposeful and less uncertain, more joyful and … more joyful!

For many years, Dan Beuttner, the National Geographic fellow and Blue Zones® guru, researched areas of the world where populations were living to be centenarians. He identified intentional behavior around ritual, movement, diet, and connection in each of the five locations. These behaviors not only increase lifespans, but they are healthier overall, and heart disease, cancers, and obesity become rare. Practicing intentionality around my lifestyle significantly improves my quality of life day-to-day. Knowing that it also decreases my opportunity for disease is more than a bonus. Plus it’s just more fun!

After teaching a course on longevity at a retreat in Costa Rica, I began to feel more and more inspired to lead others to feel empowered around their own aging. As a former personal trainer, an acupuncturist, herbalist, and menopause coach, my own experiences and background lend a unique perspective to living well longer.

Now, my mission is to help people design their own lives to powerfully age like the badasses they are. Won’t you join us?

xoxo,

Joni