health
From the ovaries, outward, all about female-focused health and medicine.
The Way of Being Grateful
Virtues are just as strong as vices. I ask myself if I'm a virtuous woman. I ask myself "Am I patient? Am I honest? Am I compassionate? Justified? Prudent? Faithful? Virtues are not easy. Vices are easy. I can easily say I can be too proud sometimes and I've known wrath. I can easily admit that envy, lust, and gluttony have caused much grief in my life. Roman philospher Cicero claimed that "Gratitude is a parent of the other virtues" although in many books written about virtues or vices, gratitude is not mentioned. Maybe that's because in November many of us celebrate the official holiday called "Thanksgiving Day" which was made an official holiday in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. "The holiday was permanently fixed to the fourth Thursday of November by a law signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941." (per google, 11/1/25)
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Viva
Pain is a reminder of limitations
I want to cry or scream. The pain is bad. I'm breathing heavy and trying to deal with it, hoping it won't be here too long. What else can I do? I've got Tylenol, coffee, and my cigarettes. That's all I've got besides my strength and tolerance for pain. It hurts just like that image above. It hurts less when I stay seated. It hurts more when I stand or walk. I feel like the Tylenol had no effect - like the pain is so much bigger than the Extra Strength Tylenol. I try to accept that. I tell myself it will pass, and pain is temporary, like happiness. But the mood is different than my strength. The mood gets angry and depressed. The mood thinks about death. The mood makes jokes about how Death is the Messiah and eliminates all suffering. I think gruesome, dark thoughts - like how I've seen people get killed, and how some of their deaths were so quick and seemed painless. That's what pain does to me. It reminds me of the blessing of mortality and death. It makes me grateful that we don't live forever. I can only hope that my death will occur when I'm in great pain so that I can be grateful to both death and pain.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Viva
Stop Harassing Women who Smoke. Top Story - October 2025.
I could have smoked three cigarettes for how long it took me to find the right image to put with this article. I'm sure the AI generators don't struggle like I do trying to force an image into the pixel spot wanting a specific mood/look but not getting the number of pixels correct. Ugh. Ok, now that I've vented, what was I wanting to talk about today? Oh yeah, women who smoke. I did not light a cigarette while I wrote this venting prelude paragraph. I just wanted you to know that because as I move on to the next paragraph, I'm going to refill my coffee cup and then light a cigarette.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Viva
Applying Piaget to Women Reinventing themselves
Have you ever heard of your favorite star (actress, singer, or something else) talk about how they got to a point in their lives where they had to "reinvent themselves"? I read articles (starstruck long ago) about some of my idols mentioning that phase or stage of their lives. I think it's very Piaget in thought or psychological consideration. Stages. Certain time periods of our lives. The childhood is different from the teenage years. The young adult life is different from the new mom and dad years. The empty nest or divorce years are different from the married grandma and grandpa years... Etcetera. For me personally, the past eight years have been challenging me in the harshest aspects of aging to "reinvent myself" --- and let me tell you --- for a stubborn 50-something woman like me who finds change uncomfortable, this "stage" or "phase" of my life and aging process has been utter drudgery.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Viva
Finding your groove in the 50s
How come we don't have a show on television called 50-somethings? There are plenty of shows with the kiddies as stars, or the teens as stars, or the 20 and 30-somethings as stars. They even have movies and shows for the silver haired folks in their 60s and up club. What about the 50-somethings? Where's our movie or show? When I was younger I had all kinds of guidance. The Breakfast Club helped me through high school. Sex in the City helped me through my 20s. Comic books and movies helped me through the 30s and 40s. Now what? Whose representing the 50-somethings journey and pathways? I feel like I have no guidance. In a way, I like that. I'm too old to be listening to a drill sergeant or condescended to as if I haven't been around the block. Yet, there's still a piece of me that is uneasy and insecure about navigating on this new territory commonly called "over the hill" or "after the change". Big changes, big accomplishments, yet not much art or literature for guidance or reference as if the 50-somethings are in unfamiliar living situations. I trust my own instincts and judgements most of the time, but I do feel a discomfort of not having more movies and books to use as a reference for this phase/chapter of my aging experience.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
Grumpy Old Lady Angry at the Economy
I'm frustrated as hell today. Grumpy and snarky. I didn't have to fight the cat to get to the coffee machine, but I couldn't find a pair of pants quick enough, and when I organized the coffee station yesterday I forgot where the filters were. By the time I sat down with my coffee I was already grumpy. The other day my ex-husband/current roommate stood at the coffee station (that cost $400 and I'm making monthly payments on) as if he owned it (because he's a bully who is three times bigger than me and he knows niether of us want to go to jail) and forced me to ask him if I could get myself a cup of coffee (because he was in my f'n way) so I did while I shot him daggers from my eyes and poured the hot coffee into my cup when I really wanted to smash the glass pot against his skull. Whoever said I'm not a good actress, lied. He gets his jollies off by demeaning me with that passive-aggressive behavior. Does it in regards to the toilet also which is why I sometimes have to leak or poo in my own personal bucket toilet.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
Old lady grumbling about work
Happy October! May the leaves change colors in glorious autumn fashion and may you enjoy a tasty pumpkin spiced latte or donut this morning. I am here at my desk with a Maxwell House coffee brewed out of the cheapest coffee maker on the Walmart shelf. I like it. One button and will brew the cheapest coffee on the shelf. Good. I'm broke and I'm cheap just like my coffee maker.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
Old People Need Different Body Treatment than Young People
Everybody knows that aging changes a body. It is evident in animals and in the human body. We don't have to wonder, we can see it in those who have really aged. They have grey hair, wrinkles, some of them have scars. They dont' move as fast and they seem a lot more cautious in their movements next to a younger person. Are those signs of the privilege of getting old? Maybe. There has been an obsession in many cultures with "looking youthful" as it was attached to an idea of beauty and health. It seemed a common or obvious notion: Young people are healthy, fit, beautiful and if we want to survive or be loved that's what we have to be. So came the health gurus and gym experts. They will sell you any speech or product in the name of "keeping you fit and beautiful" and since culture accepts that being young is better than being old, people blow tons of money on any gimmick directed at that narrative. Old women may be more susceptible to these "advisors" sales pitches because women tend to be vain. I am a vain woman most of the time - some people call it pride. Though it may be considered a vice or an "ugly" part of my personality, it also motivates me to do something good for my body and my self. Pride or Vanity is the only reason I have for "caring" about my body or wanting to keep it in some kind of healthy and/or presentable functioning.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
Eldery people visit profound places
I found this meme today scrolling on Facebook. It was the most profound one I read and decided to write a poem and an article featuring this. Where do you think the elderly or the poor hang out? Some roach infested ghetto apartment or a sparkling clean dazzling condo overlooking the ocean? Both? Some elite gated nursing home featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous or some decaying old building with overworked and underpaid nurses calling it an Assisted Living Facility? A tent in the backyard where Granny fights the dog or the cat to call it "her" tent? A car that's over 20 years old and needs a new transmission and has no air conditioning or heater, but still lets Grandpa take a nap in the Walmart parking lot? Some old dusty hall where they gave the old homeless bum a free pack so he could play Bingo and try his luck? Yeah, I'm sure you can find the elderly at all of the above, but I think the meme is directly referring to places where the elderly have been much more than those younger folks. Typically, young people (child age to say around 30 somethings) are not typically hanging out at the hospital, the prison, or the cemetary unless they are employed there.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
Body Image in Aging
As I mentioned in my previous article, my focus is on the topic of aging especially regarding women so I'm thinking about old ladies which is what I consider myself since I am "over the hill" (over 50 years of age). Though wise men will say that we ought not compare ourselves to others as it is a source of emotional havoc, I notice that sitting in front of a television or computer screen in a female aging body is a source of loneliness and restlessness. Though I may be wise like those men or other notable wise women in the famous stories, I see daily that comparisons are often made (intentionally or not) almost as if it is impossible to get through the day without doing so. Scroll on Facebook because you're bored and see a joke about sagging breasts. Lots of laughs but would it be funny without comparison? If we didn't have plastic boobs or 15 year old boobs to look at, would the saggy drooping old lady boobs be funny? I'll try not to compare us to animals, but when I get in a serious mood I tend to compare human behavior to the animals and the animals seem to be more civilized. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe that was as cruel as laughing at your grandmother's breasts. Did you laugh at the porn stars breasts the same way? Oh right, it isn't wise to compare. What? The laughs or the breasts?
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman5 months ago in Viva
