I don’t have a list, but have a few suggestions… Find a farmer’s market, especially one that screens vendors to confirm that they are selling only their own locally grown produce. Try a new vegetable or fruit each week and talk with the grower for eating suggestions. Some of the things I have discovered this way: dried jujube fruits, garlic scapes, unusual mushrooms. Grow microgreens in your kitchen. (Or other sunny, but not direct sun, area inside your home.) Check True Leaf Market for microgreen seeds, such as cantaloupe microgreens. There are a number of great resources online for growing information. Don’t have room for a full garden? Grow a container of herbs on your patio or at your front door. Look for smaller vegetables that can be grown in a large container, like bush style cucumbers or summer squash. I think every home needs at least one fruit tree. Personally, I think fig trees are an essential. They are self-fruiting, normally pest free. (I actually have about seven or eight different fig trees and plan to start propagating next year so I can give them away.) Check out some YouTube videos on food forest. The vegan athlete and Growing your greens are two of my favorites, because they are educational and inspirational. Even if you don’t plan to grow a garden, they have good food info. At the farmer’s market or grocery store, look for different colors. Like purple carrots, purple beans, etc. Also look for heirloom varieties, such as tomatoes. The more colorful, the better. Heirloom fruits and vegetables most often have higher nutrition content bc they were bred for flavor and not for storage or transportation durability. Read This Organic Life by Gussow. One of my all time favorite books and one I have read more than four times over the past 20 years. The author talks about eating locally and why it is important. Know that much of the produce at the store has been picked before maturity and shipped thousands of miles. Familiarize yourself with growing seasons and try to buy and eat apples more in the fall and citrus in the winter, berries in the spring and melons in the summer. Just because we can now buy bananas (or whatever…) year around does not mean that they are at their peak freshness. Example: I was buying persimmon grown in my state last year and fell in love with them. Several months later, I started to put some in my cart when I noticed this batch was grown in Israel. I decided against buying them. 1.) The environmental impact of transporting produce across the globe is insane 2.) I knew these would have been picked very early in order to transport that far. Search out different grocery stores, such as Indian or Asian markets. I know many people joke about Whole Foods being Whole Paycheck, but I often price compare and their produce prices are often lower than Super Target. Add onions and garlic anywhere you can. Mushrooms and beans are easy additions/swaps, if you like them. I love a good taco salad and now use lentils instead of taco meat. Eat one big salad a day. If that seems daunting, swap out two meals a week for a big salad. Mix up the ingredients to keep them fresh. Things like slivered garlic scapes and fresh green beans are wonderful in a salad. Salad turnips and kohlrabi are also great in a salad, as is roasted beets. Make use of all parts of the plant, like adding some carrot greens or beet greens to a salad. Fresh herbs are great in salads. I follow several raw vegans on Instagram, even though I am not entirely raw or vegan, but I love their content and they are inspirational and educational.

Optimal nutrition for long term health is 100% why I went whole food, plant based. After my young onset Parkinson’s diagnosis - and after several months of Woe Is Me comfort food eating - I decided wfpb was what my body needed. I am a researcher. It can drive my DH crazy, because I am one to read dozens of books and make notes and outline what I have researched. I was finding reports on how to slow the progression, how to regain my mobility and strength, how to live a healthy life with Parkinson’s . Over and over again I was reading: Eat lots of plants, esp dark colored plants and leafy greens. Do yoga. Get physical exercise every single day. Reduce stress. Positive thinking. Meditate. Get enough sleep. I knew that in order to eat lots of plants, I needed to make them the focus of my diet. My Parkinson’s symptoms actually had started in my gut and initially my family doctor had sent me to a gastro specialist who spent the better part of a year running numerous tests. I was scoped both ends and back again. They found nothing. I spent a year just eating toast and white rice bc - I had no desire to eat, everything smelled horrible, I gagged at the sight of any food, I would vomit when trying to walk into a grocery store because all the smells overwhelmed me. It felt very much like my first trimester morning sickness. I had dozens of pregnancy tests. My family doctor sent me to the hospital on several occasions for fluid iv because of dehydration. Every hospital visit, first thing they would do was run a pregnancy test. I have a family history of colon cancer so was tested and scanned for so many cancers. Then I was ultimately diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s. So, after all this research, to decide to go whole food, plant based, was an epic challenge. Everything green smelled rotting to me. (You lose your sense of smell with Parkinson’s, but in some people - like me - they go through an initial period of hyper sensitivity to smells.) I worked with a dietician for a while and she helped get me going. Lemon was one of the few tastes I liked, so we started with lemon yogurt from a local dairy. When I could tolerate that, we added berries to the yogurt. It took over a year to get to the point that I eliminated all meat and almost all egg and dairy and am 99% plant powered. Along the way, I met this older lady that is plant based, gluten free vegan and she has so much energy and vitality and she really inspired me that it was possible to be both gluten free and wfpb vegetarian. (Before talking with her, it seemed too daunting.) I really had no idea that I would lose lifelong food cravings, weight would become a non-issue, my chronic pain would go away. Really, aside from the damn Parkinson’s, I feel better and stronger than I have in years. At 55, I can bench press and deadlift over 100 pounds. People say, Oh, I could never do that, I could never give up certain foods, etc. To me it isn’t about giving up foods, it doesn’t feel restrictive, it is about taking advantage of all the fruits and vegetables out there, beyond what the corner grocery store sells. I go the the farmer’s market and try new foods. I grow my own microgreens. (Did you know you can eat cantaloupe microgreens? They taste like cantaloupe!) In all of my research, much the same is said for heart disease, stroke and diabetes - eat mostly plants, get enough sleep, exercise, do yoga, reduce stress. I have a close family member with diabetes and she looks at me and says she wouldn’t want to live like I do. But I look at her and think the same. She has been wheelchair bound since she was in her early 60’s due to obesity and diabetes. I feel like, both ways of living are hard, pick the hard you can best live with. For me, it is wfpb. And really - I do feel like I went through a detox - after that, it isn’t hard at all. Now it is quite enjoyable.

I used to think all foods were okay in moderation. Yet I also knew that for years, if I had a gluten free baked item (sandwich or banana bread, muffin, cupcake, etc) I just wanted that more and more. That is the addicting power of food. Intellectually, I could think and feel a certain food was okay in moderation, but my body felt differently. My body would just want more. I read something a while back about food/eating issues: For an alcoholic, they teach you that you have to forever eliminate alcohol and avoid tempting places. But you can’t do that with food. Everyone still has to eat. Yet most treatment for food issues (eating disorders, diabetes treatment, etc.) doesn’t fully take that into account. They(nutritionists, etc) will say “That is okay in moderation…” because for themselves that is true. But it isn’t true for someone with dietary/weight issues. re: deep fried Twinkie. I live in the state whose state fair is a constant source of pride in What crazy thing can we fry this year? And I can tell you from going to that state fair many, many times: No one should ever be eating a deep fried Twinkie. Or a deep fried stick of butter or slab of cheesecake. Just NO. Never. I normally don’t believe in government regulations but in this case I do. I think it is a national disgrace, it is horrific for our health care system, it is sad to see severely overweight children that will grow up seeing this as normal.

That is what I take to be a craving, as well. You can be in the mood for, say, spaghetti but that isn’t a craving. But to have an intense desire to eat, say, ice cream or chicken wings, that is a craving.

I went whole food, plant based vegetarian, mostly leaning toward raw vegan, over the past 18 months. My dad is an alcoholic and my mom is a food hoarder. I grew up with major food and weight issues and have struggled with borderline anorexia, self harm and my own alcoholism. I have always had intense food cravings - until just this past year. My own personal belief is that there is a tipping point that you have to get to, either emotionally where you realize that giving in to the French fry craving will make you feel worse instead of better, or physically where your body now craves and wants healthy, vibrant foods instead of heavy foods. I think the science behind that is that our body craves things that trigger us, much like gambling or alcohol. We think of them as comfort foods, but instead they trigger our brain. Our bodies crave things that cause chronic inflammation, because that is what our bodies are used to feeling. Not 100% sure on that, but that is my understanding and what makes sense to me with my own experience. Just like I used to crave alcohol even though it would later make me feel awful, same with dairy, sugar or carbs. One of my self harms was cutting. I knew it would hurt like hell the next day, but in the moment my body needed that feeling. That is how food cravings used to feel for me. I do 100% think that there is a detox period, like an alcoholic goes through detox, when you go totally whole food, plant based, there is a tipping point where you just mentally no longer even want anything that isn’t whole food, plant based. Now even organic “good” salad dressing tastes odd. I used to love pizza but now have no interest in eating it I had read Dr Fuhrman’s earlier books, along with similar books. They always made sense to me, but it was never something I could 100% embrace. I have always been a healthy eater. I used to run half marathons and you can’t do that and eat a crap diet. I have never eaten fast food, except for occasional French fry craving after a long run. I have always loved fruits and vegetables and have long known that I felt my best physically and emotionally when I put them front and center of my diet. But. I had a toxic childhood and brought a lot of food issues with me into adulthood. I have always had intense food cravings. Until now. Background: I was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s and fibromyalgia in early 2020, on top of earlier health issues - Hashimoto’s, Epstein-Barre and celiac. March 2021, I decided to go back to being a vegetarian but whole food, plant based. (I was a vegetarian as a young adult but ate a ton of pasta, dairy and eggs.) I didn’t initially “decide to go vegetarian,” to eliminate all meat or fish, but as a way to force myself to put fruits and vegetables front and center in my diet. I knew from previous experience that my body feels its best when I get above and slightly beyond the USDA recommendations of fruits and vegetables, which just doesn’t leave much room for meat, dairy, etc. I thought I would still eat a bit of meat and would totally still eat fish. With celiac, it makes it hard eat out anyway and I didn’t want to make it harder by eliminating all meat. But, the more fruits and vegetables I ate, the more I wanted them until, I gave up all meat and fish, then almost all dairy and eggs, olive oil, sugar. I really don’t have any intense food cravings anymore. I do have a desire to eat certain foods, like mango or berries, but it isn’t a craving. A few weeks ago, I was eating maybe two or three mangos a day. It is nothing for me to get 20-30 different fruits and vegetables in my body on any given day. I no longer have issues with my blood sugar tanking out on me, I have been able to go off prescription pain killers and reduce anti-inflammatory meds. I have major blood work done two times a year. (My neurologist and rheumatologist go together and order labs, so things don’t get duplicated. It is often 8-12 vials of blood drawn.) Over the past three rounds of labs, my liver enzymes are perfect for the first time ever, my A1c is amazing, cholesterol, inflammation levels are finally down for the first time in my adult life. I now look at food as energizing, healing, light, vibrant. My diet is almost all fresh fruit and vegetables. I generally eat a very small handful of nuts or nut butter and a small amount of legumes a day. I do eat about one egg a week, when we have breakfast tacos, so I am not vegan and don’t profess to be one. But my diet is about 75% raw vegan. I shop at the farmer’s market, so I can get organic, in season, locally grown food. I also switched from flower gardening to vegetable gardening and grow some of my food. I don’t know at this point that I will ever go back to eating not plant based. Granted, I do have Parkinson’s so my journey and my incentive is very different. Eat to live and Eat for health are two of Fuhrman’s book titles. Another dr’s book is How not to die. I take those book titles very personally. Before I went whole food, plant based, I was sidelined by my health. I had gone from running half marathons to not being able to walk around the block. This morning, I ran two miles and came home and gardened for a few hours. I 100% know I couldn’t have done that without being fueled by plants.

I have always wondered about that, whether it is genetics or just that those generations didn’t have processed foods like we do today or those cases are outliers. My great grandpa died of old age and was rail thin all this life. He smoked a lot and put cream on everything, even fresh fruit. His wife, whom didn’t smoke and I assume ate a similar diet in the adult years, was not so fortunate. (Multiple strokes and diabetes.) Their daughter (my paternal grandma) also smoked heavily. She, too, died of old age. That said, she did have open heart surgery in her later years, but bounced back from that and lived healthfully for several more years. She walked everywhere, right up to the week or two before she passed away. She had significant osteoporosis with classic hunch and lost over six inches in height. She took two major falls in her later years but never broke a bone. (One, she was caught outside at the start of a tornado and blown off her raised porch by the storm door.) That has always made me wonder if she was an outlier, as she should have broken something in that fall. My grandma’s siblings all died of old age and didn’t have any health issues even in their older years. My grandma had three children. The oldest died young of aggressive colon cancer. The second died in an accident, after surviving polio as a child and the Vietnam war as a young adult. The youngest currently has aggressive cancer. I don’t know why some are fortunate and some are not. I am not one to think “one size fits all,” as there are so many variables.

I was thinking about this very thing this morning at the gym. The people that I know that are the healthiest and strongest are vegan, vegetarian or eat a plant centered Whole Foods diet with meat as a minor component. The people I know that have the highest bmi or have type two diabetes eat a very meat centered diet. I find it ironic that as soon as people realize you aren’t eating meat, they automatically ask “But what about protein?” I joke that that is the equivalent of asking a homeschool mom about socialization. I would never think about asking people “But what about the fiber?” when they are eating chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy. (A common menu item here…) The whole “You need animal protein” is a marketing angle to convince people that they need to buy their product.

This sounds really good. Thank you for sharing.

I totally agree about this. I went whole food, plant based vegetarian about 18 months ago, due to my Parkinson’s diagnosis. About 75-80% of my diet is raw vegan. I actually eat very very little traditional protein, maybe a small portion of beans once a day and a small amount of nuts or nut butter once a day. I have zero cravings for the first time in my life. I love the foods I eat. I have plenty of energy and have regained the strength and muscle tone I had lost leading up to my PD diagnosis. I lift heavy weights 2-3 times a week, run on a treadmill, average four hours of hot yoga a week, grow a large vegetable garden, etc. My own thoughts are that we, as a society, put way too much thought into “getting enough protein.” We should be worried about eating more fiber and more bright colored fruits and vegetables, whether one eats meat, vegetarian or junk food vegan. I have always thought we should eat like our lives depend on it, because our lives do depend on it. Why wait until we get a cancer, diabetes or Parkinson’s diagnosis, have a heart attack or stroke? Yet, there I was myself. Being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 50 was sobering. Chronic inflammation plays a key role in many diseases and every book and medical study I have read, every doctor and nutritionist I have worked with, have all said the same thing: Meat, dairy and processed foods are the biggest drivers of chronic inflammation. Yes, some people can eat them and never have an issue. But for people that have chronic inflammation - especially people with autoimmune issues - they are very harmful.

No is a complete sentence that doesn’t need further explanation. If you want to add, “That does not work for us.” Repeat as many times as needed.

Lovely weddings! I love the decor and the flowers are amazingly beautiful. I love the menu for the farm to table. I am very much into supporting local farmers and love that so many younger people are driving that issue.

Why get one specifically from Israel? I get the significance of buying one from Israel, but it can be very difficult to get a tree shipped from overseas. (I guess I am making assumption that you don’t live in that region and that most countries have some sort of botany regulations and quarantines.) There are nurseries in the US that sell olive trees, such as Logee’s. Yes, you lose the direct connection to Israel but you can get an actual olive tree and not have to worry about it burning up in a long quarantine.

Thank you. It was a hard, but much needed, shift. I am glad I had the support and ability to make the change.

I grew up in the heartland, on basic meat and potatoes and overcooked vegetables. The only salads I remember eating as a child were either slathered in blue cheese dressing (classic wedge) or dripping in hot bacon dressing (wilted lettuce). I have strong childhood memories of helping butcher chickens, castrate pigs, etc. We had a meat packing plant in my hometown and that was our town’s main employer. My grandpa worked there when I was a little. Meat was just a way of life As a young adult, I was a vegetarian for a number of years though still ate tons of cheese and eggs. Then I got pregnant and craved meat for the first time in my life. Like. Really craved meat. Meatballs for breakfast sort of cravings. I was also very anemic my entire pregnancy. I didn’t go back to a vegetarian diet after my pregnancy. About ten years ago, DH went about 80/20 raw vegan and I decided to join him. I felt amazing for the first time in my life. The stomach issues I have had my entire life went away. Alas. We went back to eating a lot of meat. It is my fall back, to cook the meat and potato way, because that is how I was raised and learned to cook. I have never really liked meat, except for a few specific things (bbq, rare steak and the pregnancy cravings). I have young onset Parkinson’s now and it has affected all aspects of my diet and thoughts on nutrition. I lived on toast and plain white rice for a full year because all textures, smells and tastes bothered me. Even now, the only things I really like the taste of is lemon. I also have horrible apathy and that has extended to food. About 18 months ago, I returned to a vegetarian diet, eating mostly raw vegan, plant based, locally grown, in season. Aside from the Parkinson’s, I feel really good. I have multiple auto immune disorders and have lots of blood work done twice a year; my labs have improved so much over the past year and I have been able to go off prescription pain meds. I don’t think, at this point, I will ever return to eating meat again. The idea of faux meat is equally unappealing. I think - for me and for many people - the further away from meat you get, the more off putting it is. Your taste buds change. Your thoughts about meat consumption change. I gave up meat for my own health, but I am now more aware of the welfare of animals and the environment. It is all interconnected. My neurologist, rheumatologist and dietician have all told me that meat and dairy are the main source of disease in America right now. None of them adviced or encouraged me to give up meat and dairy, I did that on my own. But they have all expressed how pleased they are with the improvements in my health and asked what I had changed. My rheumatologist told me at my last appointment that she wished all of her patients would go plant based because of how inflammatory meat and dairy are for patients with rheumatoid issues. But I know - from growing up in and around meat industry - it is a hard change…

I love cheesecake but seldom eat it, as I have celiac. One major chain does have a great gluten free one that I indulge in once a year when we go to the mall at the holidays. And I may make a gluten free one every few years. pre: snow cones. This sounded gross when I first heard of it, but I do like a snow cone with cream drizzled on top. But only one flavor for the snow cone. Toasted coconut. I hate bright colored / artificial flavoring of most snow cones.

That interview. All I can think is Holy F. And I don’t say that lightly.

Go through yoga teacher training! It is an incredible experience. You don’t need to plan to teach, just to further one’s own practice.

I would apply and see what happens. I have young onset Parkinson’s and am really worried about our retirement and medical expenses. I wish I had gotten a job four or five years ago. I have thought about trying to get a job now, but my Parkinson’s is very exhausting and I feel like my brain cells are declining rapidly. I can’t learn new skills easily now and get frustrated and lost easily.

My sister is just a year older than I am. Our mom got pregnant while in high school (1960’s) and married a week after graduation. I came along a year later. Mom tried to raise us as one person, and would always make us dress alike, make us share birthdays, all of which we resented. She hated being a parent and was quite open about it. My brother came along a decade later, as our parents’ marriage was coming to a bitter and abusive end. Our mother disowned my sister and I when we were in high school and doesn’t want anything to do with us. Our father is a raging alcoholic, which my siblings denied for years, then brushed under the rug and made excuses for it. My sister married at 16 and went one way. I got married at 18 and went another way. I would love to be close to my siblings, but we had such a dysfunctional upbringing that I don’t know if it is even possible.

I have young onset Parkinson’s and fibro. We have had our mattress for a number of years (pre-diagnosis) and I am not sure what it is. I did want to echo what Jean said about mattress being too soft and not being able to roll over. I have the worse time rolling over in bed, though that is likely more the parkinsons for me. I have had the most relief from diet changes and hot/infrared yoga. My rheumatologist says the worse foods to eat with fibro are meat, dairy, sugar. My last round of labs, six months after going vegetarian with limited dairy, showed my inflammation levels were down to merely “moderately high.” I try to do yoga in an infrared heated studio 3-4 times a week. I would live in the studio, if I could, as my pain vanishes within 15 minutes.

Oh, that is great! I had trauma/abuse around my facial area and the mask just about kills me, I have to fight not having an anxiety attack. I had to get a different type of mask and even then… I struggle with it.

I just pulled up the info on the mineral protocol and will read over it tonight. I know my absorption of vitamins and minerals is horrible, as do my doctors. We are working on it, but I am always wanting to further my research and options. I have been hospitalized twice with malnutrition over the years bc of what was many later diagnosed as celiac. I have half dozen autoimmune issues. Which I wanted to mention to OP… I was first hospitalized with malnutrition when I was 15. I was again hospitalized shortly after my child was born and at that time diagnosed with a few autoimmune issues. About ten years after that, I was diagnosed with more autoimmune issues. I was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s and a few more autoimmune issues as I went through menopause. I have since had multiple specialist tell me - For people with autoimmune issues, the most vulnerable times are puberty, first child birth, menopause. That the body cannot support the fluctuations of hormones and systems start to go haywire. Why was I not told this, oh, maybe 10-15-20 years ago?!?! I feel like - I do everything I am suppose to be doing. I exercise on a consistent basis, I eat a good diet, etc… Yet, my body just keeps trying to kill me. After years of being made to feel like I am to blame, it is freeing to finally have doctors tell me, “It isn’t you, it’s your body, let’s work on this at a different level.” (I actually had an ENT tell me that if I washed my hands more frequently I wouldn’t have contracted Epstein-Barre! I never went back to him. And now doctors are saying I need to be less “clean” to help build back good bacteria!”) OP, I don’t recall your medical team situation, but I do think it is super important to find doctors that look beyond the lab reports or scales or standard medical script. I would still love to find a good alternative doctor, but too many in this area seem to go too far into conspiracy ideas for my comfort level. LOL But I do have some great traditional specialists - like my rheumatologist, whom I adore, along with some non traditional ones, such as my “thyroid” doctor is really a Gp that has made thyroid and bio identical hormones his speciality, my acupuncture doctor, my massage therapist, etc. I would also include - My personal trainer, who really meets me where I am, plus he is certified as a plant based nutritionist. He was so helpful when I decided to go plant based, which I also have to add… I went plant based 14 months ago. My chronically high inflammation levels have plummeted down to normal range for first time in my adult life! Getting that under control has further helped my pain levels and my ability to move and be active. My rheumatologist said that is the single best thing you can do for your health. (I have also struggled with self harm and eating issues since I was 14, so this was hard at first but now my eating seems very natural for the first time ever.) I also started doing hot yoga with infrared heat about 14 months ago and it has been a game changer. Infrared heated studios are so different than traditional “hot” temperature hot classes. They are very therapeutic and healing. Just a few other thoughts from someone who is right there with you.

I had horrible insomnia since puberty. I am now several years post menopause. I have fairly recently been diagnosed with a neurological condition unrelated to earlier insomnia, but now directly linked to my neuro condition. (Young onset Parkinson’s, which messes with sleep and I had started acting out my dreams.) Anyway. I had a sleep study, which I failed miserably. I now have a stupid sleep apnea machine which I hate with a passion, but I now wake up refreshed which is amazing. I do take a prescription sleeping pill and muscle relaxer at bedtime bc of the neuro issue. I highly recommend a sleep study! And lack of decent sleep affects body’s ability to lose weight. Leg pain - I have also had that since puberty. I was always told it was growing pains, even though I stopped growing around age 12. I have chronically low vitamin d levels. When my d gets low, my legs ache like crazy. The first time I had my d levels checked, we had just returned from a 2 week beach vacation and I had a great tan. My labs showed my d levels at 13! I have to take high levels of d every single day. If I miss a few days, my legs hurt. Doctors have also advised me to get sunshine, without sunscreen and have even suggested the tanning bed in small increments. Have you looked at yoga nidra or even the “legs up the wall” pose? I find both to be incredibly helpful! Also, look at yin yoga. Find a small yoga studio and try it out, if at all possible. I prefer yoga at a small studio or nicer gym, not at a local rec center where the classes are held in a mixed use room. The setting and acoustics are very important. I would also look at bio identical hormone replacement for menopause issues. And research the vagus nerve… I have found massage and reflexology to be incredibly helpful for me. I have read your posts over the past months and really feel your pain. I could have written nearly identical posts. I would really try to find some small things that are healthy, bring joy and set a routine. At the start of the pandemic, I started shopping at our local farmers market. I had always wanted to, but just never made the time. It has been amazing. I love getting to know the growers, nourish my body with fresh, local, in season foods. I am eating as much raw vegan as possible. Not 100%, but maybe 50-60% most days. I really think there is an amazing connection between the food we eat, our energy levels and cellular healing. Maybe you could start growing some microgreens or wheatgrass in your kitchen? I know you said no gardening, but just start a small container inside, to begin that connection with food and health. Or try sprouting seeds. I follow several people on Instagram and I love watching their videos. hugs!

France, esp Monet’s garden and Mont Saint-Michel. Love Paris. Quebec City US - Upstate New York, Thousand lakes region, Lake Placid. Northern Minnesota Enchanted Rock, Texas hill country Southern Missouri

Loved the clip above re: kickboxing. That is me, except yoga. I had always envisioned going back to work, at least part time. I started a (very) small business almost five years ago, in part as job training and to update my business skills. I thought it would be a stepping stone to something more once I was finished homeschooling. My DS graduated in 2020, shortly after I was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s. I feel like I am in an odd place in life now. I feel like I have something “more” inside of me yet, something unfulfilled. Yet at the same time, my health limits what I can do. I can’t simply get a job for the sake of having a job. My balance and ability to stand or lift are limited, my memory is terrible, I can’t drive more than a few miles. So I putter in my garden and go to yoga and run my small business. I am trying to embrace being mostly “retired,” but I feel guilty at times. That said… On the larger issue, I feel this is an interesting (and odd) time for society. We live in a capitalist society, being told constantly that we have to buy more and own more. But what if we don’t? I have, in the past year, met some great new friends who have yet to see my house or where I live. One of them recently asked if we were going to downsize now that we are empty nesters. (She is also a new empty nester.) I told her we never upsized, so had nothing to downsize to. She was floored. We were then comparing house sizes and her home is 6x as large as ours. She said they needed the larger house because they had a live in nanny when the kids were younger. She has always worked corporate and is burnt out and stressed out and talks constantly about needing to escape. But what about living a life we don’t need to escape from? We bought the smallest, though nicest, home we could easily afford on one salary nearly 30 years ago. And we stayed put and paid off our house years ago. Yes, it was cramped at times, esp when homeschooling. But we made the conscious decision to stay in this house and not feel society’s pressure to constantly move up, buy more. Yes, sometimes I wished we had a bigger or nicer home. But I am content where we are and it has been so amazing to have our home paid off for almost ten years now, to have that financial freedom of not needing to work just to pay for the bigger home or the live in nanny. I think it is okay to step back from what society tells us - especially tells women - we should want or should be doing. We had a new housing development go in directly behind us about ten years ago. The house are massive, many with 5-6 bathrooms. The house directly behind ours has three people living in it, a couple with one young teenage child. I don’t think it is healthy for society or for the planet to have that level of consumption. Sorry, a soapbox issue of mine. But I think it is relevant to how women see themselves and see their role in the family and in the world.