 Hi guys, as I'm getting ready to episode, to edit episode two of Straight Talk, I want to preface this with, this is just a conversation about my feelings on certain topics with regarding aging and getting older, menopause and the changes in life that we face as we get to that stage. I don't necessarily have any solutions for you, but I do want to make you feel like, definitely, like you're not alone if you have experienced any of these same situations. And maybe together we can find some kind of workable solutions. The main one is just, let's just be kind, go forward and treat others as we would like to be treated. I think that's the lesson here. Anyway, here's my little conversation. I filmed it while I was in the car. I felt so inspired. Does it make sense? I don't know. I guess we'll both find out together when I do the editing. All right, let's watch and see. Okay, so while we're driving back home, we're going to have another Straight Talk. This is a Straight Talk about ageism, hot flashes and health. If you want to watch the prior episode of Straight Talk here on my YouTube channel, I will link that video in the description below. It's going to be a periodic series, so there will be a playlist now that there's more than one video. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Leave any questions, comments, or concerns down below. You're also welcome to join my Facebook group, A Life of Heart and Self-Expression, and start a conversation about any topics we discuss over there. There is a chronic pain Facebook group. If you feel like physically or mentally, you fit into that category that you can freely share, discuss, and get support for what's going on with you. I'll link all of that below. Along with places to support the free content here on YouTube. Patreon, YouTube membership, my Etsy shop, all that stuff. All the business stuff is over with now. All right, Straight Talk. So a few years ago, I decided to stop coloring my hair and just let it go as great as it was going to get. I wasn't sure what that was going to look like because I had been coloring my hair since I was like 17. And I started getting my first gray hairs shortly thereafter. So I had no idea how gray I was. And I was pretty gray. I'm grayer now. I'm pretty sure. But I was pretty gray. I'll start a picture about here somewhere. OK, here's another interruption in our little Straight Talk. So funny enough, I couldn't find any pictures other than the one I'm going to show you next of me going gray the first time. This was probably about halfway through the process. And while the old color was growing out, I would have low lights put in so that it sort of tried to cover up the. So I didn't have a line. I didn't look like a raccoon. But you could see a significant amount of gray here. Keep in mind, it's not nearly as gray as I am now. This was a long time ago, back in like 2011. So nine years ago. And I am significantly more gray now than I was then. And I felt some of the issues that we're going to talk about next. Then I can't imagine what it's going to be like the next time I decide to stop coloring my hair. Anyway, here's the picture and we'll continue on with the talk. There was still a lot of brown in there. It was pretty dark. It wasn't white, white. My hair is still pretty silver. It was very freeing not to have to worry about dyeing my hair. And just letting it go and being me. And I look forward to doing that again sometime soon, but not too soon. My daughter wants me to wait until after her wedding. So I'll be waiting until then. I am getting tired of touching my hair up all the time. We did go to this lighter sort of dark blonde super light brown color last year because keeping it up as a dark color was very time consuming. And this color is going to be easier to lift when the time comes. And I have a very good colorist now, so she's really great. Anyway, what surprised me last time, and I'm not looking forward to this time, was how I was treated differently. I was treated once my hair was very silver. How I was ignored and discounted in public situations. And any of you out there who have gone gray before or are gray know exactly what I mean. Now, some of it has to do with just being female. Because as a female, I'm sorry for all you guys out there watching, but all you women know, we get a certain amount of that no matter what. My husband, I love him very dearly, but while he believed me on one hand, he kind of pooped it on the other. Especially when I said something about a friend of hers, his treating me a certain way. Until one day, not long ago, he overheard a friend of his speaking to me in a derogatory manner. And then ended up calling on him. He was shocked. And he said, oh my god, I said, yeah, you think that's bad, it happens all the time. When you go gray, it is so much worse. And it's very disappointing and disheartening. I understand that as we get older and we do things like go to the doctor, it's not a matter of if they'll find something wrong. It's a matter of when. You don't get out of this life alive. The reality is we all age, we all get older. They'll die. It's a reality of life. That doesn't mean while we're still here, we don't deserve to be treated fairly, to be treated equally. What happened to respect your elders? I don't understand. It's just like it's just was it something we were just told and then nobody ever actually did? I don't understand. I don't get it. So while I look forward to having lower maintenance appearance, hair-wise especially, I don't look forward to that part of it. And I don't have that many wrinkles or anything. So if I dye my hair, I look significantly younger than I am. I'm going to be 57 this year. But we should be able to wear our age and be proud of it. And then we get to the hot flashes. Really, cow. It goes along with getting older and being female. My mother said to me years ago that the hot flashes get better, but they never completely go away. And I was kind of hoping she was kidding. She wasn't kidding. Most of the time it's fine. But like the gray hair and how you're treated when your hair is gray, it just sneaks up and bites you in the ass when you least expect it. I'll be in the middle of doing something like putting makeup on because I just really need to boost that day and want to feel better about my appearance and how I look. And in the middle of doing something like my eyeliner, I get a hot flash and everything just starts dripping off my face. We go out walking in the evening and it's like 38 degrees outside. And the husband says, make sure you bundle up. And I am cold initially when we leave the house. But by the time we get home, the gloves are off, the jackets unzipped, are off completely. And I'm just boiling. And he is so cold, his fingers are white. He has such bad circulation. So it's just things like that. I no longer have them at night. The night sweats to the point where I'm like soaking the bed and you get hot at night and I pull the covers off. But the rest of it, it just sucks getting older. But it's better than the alternative, right? It's definitely not for sissies, whether you're talking about the physical implications or how you're treating it. It really just takes a strong backbone. And it's everything from the guy you're running to at the grocery store to doctors and that. I mean, they just treat you like, well, you know, you're getting older. I don't know what you expect us to do. I just, it's just puzzling to me why we can't be kinder to each other and treat our elders with more respect that they deserve. I just, yeah, I don't understand it. It's very frustrating, but I can't do anything about how other people act. What I can do is walk forward in my shoes, being more respectful of those around me and not treating them the way I'm treated. You know, treat others as how you wish to be treated. It's another thing I was told a lot. Health-wise though, I'm actually doing better. I'm, you know, walking all the time to the point where I have to see an orthopedist about my knee because it hurts. But I'm still walking. Being mindful of what I eat, but when I want a piece of chocolate, I have a piece of chocolate, but I am moving. All my bloods are good. Everything is within normal range. My pap smear is good. I know if you are younger or you're male, you don't wanna hear that, but sorry, it's part of life. Everything is good. So, you know, I don't know. What I will advise all of you out there to do is, you know, get your checkups. You know, again, it's not a matter of if the doctor will find something wrong. As we get older, it's a matter of when. But what you can do is take as good a care of yourself as possible. Get your steps in. If, you know, you can't do a lot of exercise. If you're not very mobile, you know, maybe all you can do is move your arms. You know, people who are wheelchair bound, all they can do is like upper body exercises. Get what movement in that you can. Watch what you eat and, you know, just try to live in a way that you can live with yourself and the consequences of your actions. You know, treat people as you would like to be treated again. You know, we go back to the whole lifestyle, right? It's not just young people that are disrespectful to. I wanna add that in there before we close this straight talk episode out. It is not just young people. Sometimes it's people my own age that are the most disrespectful. And the last time I was seriously disrespected, it was a man that we knew that's a friend of my husband's. We've known him for years and he's my age. And he was the most disrespectful. So, here's that. All right, go out today. And I want y'all to be kind to those around you, especially your elders. Help them out if you're in the store and they seem to need a hand. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to your neighbors. And above all, go out and do something nice for yourself because you definitely deserve it. And I'll see you later. Bye guys.